Behind Enemy Lines
by South.for.Winter
Summary: When David steps into Mr. Gold's shop for directions, he finds himself remembering much more than just a life in Storybrooke. Unable to convince the people he loves the most that the curse is real, David works with Henry, allowing the Evil Queen to befriend him in order to gain access to information that may ultimately help Emma fulfill her destiny. Evil Charming. AU Season 1.
1. Chapter 1

**You have no idea how happy I am to be starting another Evil Charming fic! This is just one of many ideas rolling around in my head, so be sure to let me know what you think. **

"David," Regina said in surprise. He was the last person she'd expected to find on the other side of the door after she heard the quiet knock. "It's late. What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," David said quickly. "I wasn't really thinking about the hour. I can come back tomorrow if that would be better."

"No, no," Regina told him, stepping aside. "I was just surprised. Come in. Did you need something?"

He stepped inside and allowed her to push the door shut behind him. "I was just hoping we could talk."

"Of course." She started for the living room, looking back to make sure that he was following her. "Would you like a drink?" she asked as he took a seat on one of the loveseats. She held up a decanter filled with a dark amber liquid.

"Actually, some water would be nice if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course," she told him. "I'll be right back."

While she was gone, David took the time to look around the room from his position. It was large, but not overly so, elegant, but still unquestionably a home. Tastefully decorated and surprisingly warm for a woman such as Regina.

She came back into the room. "Is everything alright?" she asked as she handed him the water and took a seat across from him.

"Yes," David started slowly. "It's just...well, I stopped into Mr. Gold's shop this evening to ask for directions, and while I was there...I...I remembered everything."

Regina sat back, looking slightly nervous. "Everything?"

"Yes," David told her. "My life here, Kathryn, our dog, Ajax; all of it just came rushing back."

Relaxing slightly, Regina took a breath. It had worked. She'd hoped that a trip to Gold's shop would do the trick and it appeared she'd been right. "I don't mean to sound rude," she started, "but if you remember everything, then what are you doing _here_? Shouldn't you be with Kathryn?"

David twisted the glass in his hands, nodding. "I did go home first and we talked for a little while. I'll go home again later tonight. I just wanted the chance to come here and thank you in person."

"Thank me?" Regina asked. "For what?"

"Everything you've done for me. And for Kathryn," he added. "You were the one who saved me and then you were the one to figure out who I was in the end. You brought Kathryn and me together again and you've been a constant support through this entire thing."

"Well I was merely doing my job," Regina said modestly, still smiling.

"You did more than that and you know it. Thank you."

Regina smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Kathryn wanted me to invite you and Henry for dinner this Wednesday." Realizing how that sounded, he quickly added, "I think it's a great idea."

"Oh, well, thank you, David, but how about if the two of you come here for dinner? I love cooking and I'm sure Kathryn wouldn't mind a night off. The both of you deserve one – it's been a rough week."

"It has," David agreed. "Thank you. I'll ask Kathryn." He looked up suddenly, feeling eyes on him and found Henry standing in the doorway. The boy jumped at being spotted, but David gave him a reassuring smile.

Noticing David's sudden shift in attention, Regina followed his gaze. "Henry!" she scolded. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, eyes dropping to his feet. "I heard voices and I wanted to know who was here."

"Just Mr. Nolan," Regina told him. "He's just gained back his memories and came over to talk for a few minutes."

Both adults noticed the young boy's face fall at those words.

"You mean, you remember your life in Storybrooke?" he asked, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice.

"I do," David confirmed.

"I'll walk you back upstairs," Regina said, shifting to stand, but David stopped her.

"I can take him up." At the twin expressions of confusion he received from mother and son, he continued. "You've had a long day. You can enjoy your drink, I'll get Henry back up to his room and I'll be back down in a minute."

Regina sat back and smiled. "Alright. Thank you."

Henry watched curiously as David crossed the room, laying a hand gently on his shoulder to guide him toward the stairs. "Do you really remember everything about your Storybrooke life?" he asked sadly.

"Yes," David answered. "You sound as if that's a bad thing. Don't you want me to be able to remember?"

"Yeah," Henry sighed. "I was just hoping you'd remember something different."

"Different?" David questioned as they reached the second floor landing. He let Henry lead the way to his room and he made sure the door was firmly closed before he turned back around and said, "You mean like my life before the curse brought us to this world?"

Henry's eyes widened. "You mean…you mean—"

"Yes, Henry," David said smiling. "I remember _everything_."

Henry leaped into the air. "Yes!" he yelled, raising his arms.

David put a finger to his lips, warning Henry to be more quiet. "Your mom will hear."

"I knew it!" Henry whispered loudly. He barreled into David, hugging him tightly around the waist before pulling back to ask more questions. "So how come you haven't said anything? Why are you being nice to the Evil Queen?"

"It's safer for now," David explained. "She doesn't suspect anything. What do you think she'd do if she found out I remembered?"

"Right!" Henry said. "You have to pretend that you're still just David Nolan so that she won't suspect anything. Good plan! That way, she can't stop us from breaking the curse." He smiled up at David. "You can help me convince Emma that this is all real, that the book is true."

"I can certainly try," David affirmed. "We'll have to come up with a plan."

"I'm really good at those!" Henry said excitedly.

"I'll bet you are." David marveled at this young boy – his _grandson_ – who'd grown up in the house of the Evil Queen and was now working to break the curse on the town. He couldn't be more proud. "I should get back before your mother suspects anything."

Henry nodded. "Just keep pretending to be nice to her. Maybe you can even learn some of her secrets."

"Maybe," David nodded. He moved to the door and put his hand on the light switch, waiting for Henry to crawl under the covers.

"Goodnight, Henry," he said, flipping off the light.

"Goodnight, David."

* * *

"You were up there for a while," Regina commented lightly when he re-entered the room.

David recognized the slight suspicion behind her statement. "Oh, you know," he chuckled. "Henry was quizzing me on my memories." He smiled. "He's a good kid."

Regina visibly relaxed and her return smile was genuine. "Yes, he is." She took a sip of her drink as he returned to his seat. "Did you get a chance to tell him about dinner on Wednesday?"

"You mean did I get a word in edgewise during his interrogation?" He laughed warmly to show that he wasn't serious. "No, I didn't have the chance."

"He'll be very excited," Regina told him. "He talks about you all the time." Her eyes saddened and she dropped her gaze. "Mostly because he was hoping you'd remember a fairy tale life and defeat the Evil Queen."

David's pulse sped up at the mention of the curse and their past lives. Willing himself to calm down, he tried to think of how he'd react in this situation if he didn't remember who they truly were and didn't know about the curse.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, looking appropriately flustered – not difficult under the circumstances. "I'm afraid I don't understand. A fairy tale life? Who's the Evil Queen?"

"His book," Regina said. "He believes it's all true. He thinks you're Prince Charming and I'm the Evil Queen, and that I have you all under some kind of curse."

"I'm sure he doesn't think you're evil," David said, trying to sound reassuring.

"He does."

The way she said it sounded so empty. A level of pain so deep, a person had to make themselves numb just to survive it. Her eyes lost all of their light.

It caught him off guard because it was real. The iron wall that Regina always had up, was, for a brief second, gone. And it surprised him. A woman like Regina shouldn't be this deeply affected by what her son thought of her. Especially since what he thought of her was true.

Suddenly uncomfortable, David awkwardly stood. "I should probably be getting back to Kathryn."

"Of course," Regina smiled – a fake smile once again – mask firmly back in place. She stood up as well, walking him to the door. "Thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you and Kathryn on Wednesday."

David nodded. "Thank you."

As the door shut behind him and he made his way down the front path, David ran a hand through his hair. This was not going to be easy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all of the lovely reviews, favorites and follows! Wow! :) Busy, busy weekend, but FUN! I have time for a few more chapters before I head off on another adventure this weekend. Keep those reviews coming and I'll keep my head down to get as many chapters finished as possible. The more chapters, the closer we get to the good stuff! ;)**

A few days had passed since the return of David's memory and things were strange. The dinner with Regina had gone surprisingly well. David supposed he shouldn't have been that surprised – she was pretending to be civil after all. Things had been tense between him and Kathryn. It was as if they were right back where they'd started in their relationship back in their world – except this time, Kathryn really did believe she was in love with him.

While it upset him that he was going to hurt her when he left, he also knew that he couldn't stay. It wouldn't be fair to Kathryn to trap her in a relationship with a man who didn't return her love, and it most certainly wouldn't be fair to Abigail once people remembered who they truly were. He hadn't talked with her yet, but she'd sensed something was wrong and had been on edge.

Meanwhile, his relationship with Snow, or Mary Margaret as it were, was even worse off; which is how he'd ended up back at the mayor's mansion – to update Henry on the latest news for Operation Cobra.

A well-dressed Regina answered the door. "David. I wasn't expecting you."

"No – I know. I'm sorry."

"Come in," she said, waving him inside with a faint expression of concern. "I talked to Kathryn earlier."

Oh. So that's why he was being invited in. Actually, this could be an opportunity to solve a few problems at once.

"That's actually why I came here," he lied. "I wanted to talk to you about it, if it's alright with you. I need to talk to a friend." The word tasted bitter, but he managed not to show it.

Regina put a hand to her chest. "David, I'm touched that you consider me a friend. Of course you can talk to me. I want to help in any way I can."

Her voice was sickly sweet, but he had to admit, had he not known she was pretending, he would have thought her genuine. So he smiled and followed her back to the living room. Deciding to just jump in immediately, David waited only for them to sit down before speaking. "I don't think I can do this anymore, Regina."

She frowned. "What are you talking about, David?"

"My marriage. I just don't think I can keep pretending. It's not fair to anyone."

"Pretending?"

"Don't get me wrong. I care about Kathryn. I care about her very much." He had to concentrate so that he didn't slip and call her Abigail. He was strangely grateful that the curse had been so thorough in giving him new memories. Without them being so solid, it would be too easy to slip up. There were so many differences to remember. "I just don't love her the way she deserves. Not anymore."

"I'm sure it's just lingering effects of the coma. If you give it a little time—"

"No, I don't think so. You have to understand – our marriage was falling apart before my coma. I was leaving her."

"But David – Kathryn sees this as a second chance for the two of you. Surely you can't have decided it won't work after only a few days?"

"I can. I just don't…feel anything with her. I don't want to hurt her, and I…I think she could be much happier with someone else. She deserves a chance at true love."

Regina sat back in her chair frowning. She took a deep breath. "Are you in love with someone else?"

That, David knew, would have been an odd question even if he didn't know her true motives for asking it. She was thinking about Snow White. Mary Margaret.

"No," he lied. Then, with a bit of honesty, he added, "I may have had feelings for someone else, but she's not interested."

Regina looked genuinely surprised. She hadn't expected him to tell the truth. "Mary Margaret?"

David feigned a look of shock at her guess and she said, "It was a little obvious with the way the two of you were acting."

"Yes, I suppose it was."

"But you're sure she's not interested?" Regina asked curiously. "That's surprising."

"Yes. We talked today. There won't ever be a relationship between us." He didn't add that he only meant between David and Mary Margaret. They would break the curse and David would once again be reunited with his wife.

Regina leaned over and placed a hand over his. "I'm sorry, David. I know you really liked her."

Managing not to rip his hand out from under hers, David nodded. "It's alright. The important thing is that it's not the reason I'm leaving Kathryn. I'm doing it because I feel it's what's best for us both, even if it doesn't seem like it at the start."

Regina rubbed her hand over his a few times before giving it a gentle squeeze and pulling it away. "If that's how you feel, I think you should do it." It seemed, with the threat of a reunion with Snow removed, Regina didn't mind his relationship status.

"Really?" he asked.

"Mmmhmm. It's too bad that you and Kathryn aren't going to work out, but you should absolutely do what makes you happy. You deserve it."

"Thank you," David told her. "You have no idea what a relief it is to hear you say that. You really are a good friend."

"Glad I could help," she smiled.

They were silent a moment. "Is Henry home?"

"Yes," she answered slowly, tilting her head in question. "Why?"

"Oh, I was just thinking I might pop up and say hi, if it's okay with you?"

"Of course," she smiled. "He's just upstairs finishing up some homework." As they both stood from the couch, she added, "Make sure to say goodbye on your way out."

"I will." He headed straight for the stairs. Knocking lightly on the door, he opened it a crack and poked his head around.

"David!" Henry cried happily, turning around in his chair. As soon as the door was closed, he asked, "How did it go?"

"Not good," David said sadly and Henry's face fell. "We're not going to be able to convince her. It looks like we're alone on this one, buddy."

"Okay, so she doesn't believe you about the curse." Henry tapped his fingers thoughtfully against his chin, reminding David of someone much older. "But you two can still be together. Just because she doesn't believe in the curse doesn't mean you have to stay apart."

David shook his head. "I'm sorry, Henry, but it's just not going to work like that. I tried to convince her, but now she's afraid of me. She thinks—"

"She thinks you're crazy," Henry finished flatly. "Like me."

David watched his grandson, heart aching that this was something Henry had been subjected to. He placed a hand on Henry's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You and I both know that's not true."

Henry looked up at him, face brightening. "I guess this means you won't have to worry about my mom hurting Snow. If you two _were_ together, she'd probably do something to break you up again."

David nodded in agreement. That much was true. For now, Snow would be safe. As long as Regina continued to believe her curse was safe. "Don't worry, Henry. We'll find a way to break the curse."

Henry stood up from his chair and wrapped his arms around David's waist, hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you know about all of it," he said, voice muffled by their hug.

David realized just how much Henry had taken on by himself when he set out to break the curse. He'd found Emma, brought her back to Storybrooke, fought to keep her there and to convince her the curse was real and that it was her role to break it – all the while being labeled as crazy by his schoolmates and people of the town, and trying desperately to hide as much of it as he could from Regina. It was an enormous burden for anyone and Henry was only ten years old. David pulled him in closer. "Me, too, Henry. Me, too."

When they finally pulled away from each other, David said, "I should get going. Your mom won't be happy if I keep you from finishing your homework."

Henry scrunched his nose at the thought of returning to homework, but nodded anyway. "I'll walk you downstairs," he said, slipping his hand into David's.

They talked happily about animals at the shelter – a safe topic now that they were out from behind closed doors – and Regina appeared at the base of the stairs, smiling as they joined her in the entryway.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Dogs!" Henry explained. "David gets to work with them every day! Can we get one, mom? Please?!" He clasped his hands in front of him pleadingly.

"We've talked about this, Henry," she said gently.

Head dropping, Henry nodded. "I know. I was just hoping maybe you'd change your mind."

Regina ran a hand through his hair and winced when he took a step back to pull away from her touch. Clearing her throat, Regina said, "How about you say goodbye to Mr. Nolan and go finish your homework?" At Henry's frown, she added, "Maybe he can come later this week for dinner."

"Really?" Henry chirped.

She nodded.

Smile back in place, Henry hugged David. "Bye, David."

"Bye, Henry." David patted his back as the boy turned and then watched as he bounded back up the stairs.

"It's good to see him smile again," Regina said as she watched after Henry. "It's been a while. Thank you for bringing it back."

Again surprised by her sincerity, David clasped his hands together awkwardly. "It was no problem. Thank _you_ for listening to me. It helped a lot."

They smiled politely at each other and David turned toward the door. "I guess I'll see you later." He stopped when he felt a hand on his forearm.

As he turned back to face her, Regina said, "I'm always here, David. Whenever you need to talk."

"Thanks." He finally patted her hand and gave her a warm smile. "See you soon."

She nodded and watched him leave. It seemed that keeping tabs on Prince Charming was going to be much easier than she'd thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, shorter chapter, but I've been away from this for far too long. Next chapter is already in progress and I'll try my best to get it posted tomorrow. Also, to make it longer! (And more the kind of Evil Charming we want). I've bent the time-frame a bit to make this story work in my favor, so the events of this chapter are taking place much earlier than they did on the show. **

The weeks passed slowly for David. Watching his friends live their cursed lives was difficult, especially knowing he couldn't do anything about it. Only Emma could, and with her genes, he wasn't surprised to find that her stubbornness was standing in her way. He knew he couldn't blame her. Believing in magic was a lot to ask of a woman raised in a world without it, and even when small bits of proof presented themselves, she'd cautiously ignored them. Both he and Henry were growing more and more frustrated, though David hid his frustrations from Henry. He tried to stay optimistic for his grandson, not wanting him to lose hope.

David had managed to keep Regina's suspicion off of him by allowing their fake friendship to continue. Henry wasn't making it any easier on him with the continued Evil Queen treatment he gave her. She was cutting herself off emotionally more and more and it was making it more difficult to get her to open up to him. He hadn't really gotten any information so far, but he felt like he was getting close. One thing he'd learned was that every week, she took flowers to her father's mausoleum. Sometimes she was there for hours and when David mentioned this to Henry, Henry had become convinced that this was some secret lair of the Queen's. She couldn't keep anything in the house, so this must be where she kept everything from their world. David didn't doubt this and made a mental note to check it out at some point.

This evening, he'd found himself in a particularly awkward position. Regina's car had apparently broken down and he'd offered her a ride home. After some convincing, he'd ended up spending what could easily be called a romantic evening with Regina. He'd known what she was doing the entire evening, of course, but had played along innocently. Until the end of the night, that was, when Regina had moved forward, preparing to kiss him.

At that point, David had pulled back hastily, blaming it on not wanting to ruin their friendship. He'd had to hide his surprise at her reaction. She seemed almost genuinely hurt that he'd rejected her. He pushed that aside, however. He knew the truth. This was simply another ploy to hurt Snow White. If the curse ended and Snow realized there'd been a relationship between him and Regina, she'd be crushed. Regina knew that and David knew that she would stop at nothing to cause Snow White pain. Casting the curse hadn't been enough and he knew that nothing ever would be. The Evil Queen would always seek her revenge and that was why he was doing this. It was time that somebody stopped her and brought an end to the misery.

That night, David slept horribly. He tossed and turned most of the night, trying to think of something he could do. There had to be a way to convince Emma to break the curse once and for all. They couldn't keep living like this. He'd have to talk to Henry in the morning; try to come up with something – a new direction they hadn't seen before. He felt bad putting so much pressure on Henry, but he was such a smart boy. David knew that if anyone could figure out a way to break the curse, it would be him. He'd tried to keep it light, like a game. Henry took to that easily, already having adopted the military-like 'Operation Cobra' mentality. David didn't want it to become too real or serious for Henry (though Henry already took it extremely seriously).

It was easy to find Henry the next day at school. He caught up to him after Regina had dropped him off, but still several minutes before class started.

He steered Henry toward a bench and was happy to avoid any suspicious glances. One definite perk to being seen in public with Regina in a friendly way was that nobody questioned his presence in times like this. They were used to seeing him out and about with Henry and no one questioned it.

"What's the matter?" Henry asked, surprised to see David this early. They usually waited until after dinner at some point during the week (as it had become a weekly ritual) or when David would hang out with him on weekends at the shelter. Regina had begun allowing Henry to do so if his homework had been finished, much to Henry's delight. He'd never expected her to allow him to spend so much time with David. He wasn't complaining, though. He was getting to know his grandfather and now they had plenty of time to talk about ways to help Emma. Which is why this early morning meeting was so unexpected and had him instantly worried. "What's wrong?" he asked, fear plain in his voice.

"Last night…your mom…well, she tried to kiss me."

Henry made a face and then scrunched up his face in confusion. "I don't get it. Why would she do that? She's trying to make sure you'll never be with Ms. Blanchard, isn't she? She wants to make sure you stay apart."

David nodded. "I think now that Emma's in town, she's more desperate to make sure the curse stays intact. She can't risk us being together." He didn't mention that he didn't think that had anything to do with her desire to keep them apart. Even though she was the Evil Queen, she was still Henry's mother and David didn't think Henry needed to hear that his mom was only interested in causing suffering when it came to this newest development.

"So you think that my mom wanted to date you?" Henry asked.

"I think so."

Henry was silent for a minute. "Maybe you should."

"What?!" Of all the responses, this was the least expected.

"Yeah," Henry continued. "I mean think about it; if you're dating my mom, maybe she'll tell you more. You know…by accident. It would give you an excuse to spend more time at our house and we could maybe learn more about the curse."

David stared at a leaf dancing lightly across the pavement in front of them. After a minute, he looked back up at Henry. "I don't know if I could do that."

Henry nodded, noticing that most of his classmates had already gone inside. He hurried on. "I know it would be weird to date the Evil Queen, but I think Snow would understand when the curse broke – you'd be doing it to help; to gain more information and break the curse. I don't think she'd be mad." The bell rang and Henry jumped up. "I gotta go. I'm late." As he started to run off, he turned and called over his shoulder, "Just think about it."

David watched him go, feeling the cold breeze pick up and chill his face. More leaves skittered across the sidewalk and David watched them. He'd hoped Henry would have a plan, but this wasn't what he'd had in mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay. I checked out of my hotel early yesterday morning and that was the only place I had internet until I came home at 2 this morning. Okay, I know how this story is looking, but hey, I'm a hardcore EC shipper and I can promise that things won't stay this way forever. ;) Trust me, I may be an Evil Regal, but I'm not evil when it comes to Evil Charming. More to come soon! :)**

David had spent all day thinking about it. A relationship with Regina. He could see how that would be beneficial to Operation Cobra and put him in the perfect position to glean more useful information, but he just didn't know if he could go through with it. Putting aside the betrayal of Snow, he didn't know if he could pretend to have feelings for Regina Mills. Sure, he'd managed to pretend to be her friend up to this point, but a romantic relationship was different. Even if Snow did forgive him (and Henry was right, she most likely would), he didn't think he'd be able to forgive himself.

Finally, after considering his limited other options, he realized he didn't really have much of a choice. If he didn't do this, the chances of them ever finding anything to help convince Emma were slim to none. So, with a heavy heart, he made his way to the mayor's mansion.

By the time he'd made his decision, it was already after five, so David knew for sure that Regina would be home getting ready for dinner with Henry. Sure enough, when he arrived, he looked up to see Henry through his bedroom window. Henry looked up at the same moment and smiled, waving. David waved back before finishing his walk to the front door. He rang the doorbell and it was only a minute before the door was pulled open by Regina.

David frowned when Regina's expression became anxious. "Oh," she said quietly. "David."

"I, uh…I wanted to talk about last night."

"Of course," she said. "Come in."

This time, Regina led David to her study and she shut the door firmly behind her before turning to face David. He didn't even have a chance to speak before she started in.

"David, it was a stupid mistake. I'm sorry. I really hope that you won't let it affect our friendship. I would hate to lose something so important because I was being foolish. I promise I won't ever do it again."

David stood, staring at her, mouth partially open. He hadn't expected her to apologize. And he certainly hadn't expected the sincerity behind her words when she told him that she didn't want to lose their friendship. She was afraid.

He supposed this was the perfect opportunity to get it over with. "Actually…I came here to apologize to _you_. You caught me off guard last night. I just wasn't...I wasn't expecting that. But I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I—"

"Oh, no. David—" Regina started, but he cut her off.

"Really, Regina. I came here because I wanted to tell you—" He swallowed heavily to be able to force the words out. "I have feelings for you, too. I _do_ want this to be more than just a friendship. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly, and I reacted badly. Can we…can we try again?"

It was Regina's turn to stare at him. "Really?" she asked carefully.

"Really."

A slow smile dawned on Regina's face and she took a small step forward. "Okay."

This time, David recognized the expression on Regina's face. Now that he was playing into what she thought was _her_ trap, the glint in her eye was back and her smile barely concealed the smirk underneath. "Okay." David also took a small step forward and into Regina's space, trying to prepare himself for what would happen next.

Very slowly, Regina leaned forward, watching his reaction, the smile never leaving her face as she pressed her lips to his.

There was a brief second where the kiss was awkward. David's knee-jerk reaction was to fight the kiss, but he buried it. Regina would definitely be suspicious if he pulled away after the things he'd just said. Once he'd managed to control the feeling, he instead tried to pretend that it wasn't Regina he was kissing, but Snow.

He must have succeeded, because a moment later, Regina's eyes fluttered closed and her smile completely disappeared into the movements of her mouth on his. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him closer.

Finally, she pulled back breathlessly. She ran her hands down the front of her dress, smoothing invisible wrinkles as she tried to rebuild her emotional walls. She'd allowed far more feeling in that kiss than she'd meant to and was suddenly feeling very vulnerable. Clearing her throat and straightening, she said, "Well…"

David smiled at her. "How about dinner tomorrow night? Just you and me. We can get someone to watch Henry and I'll take you out." The words sounded fake to him and he hoped they weren't as transparent to Regina.

Regina just stared at him for a moment, but then she finally regained her senses. David watched with interest as the controlled mask slid back into place. The faint smirk was back and she nodded. "Alright. That sounds nice. How about seven?"

"Eight," David countered. "And I choose the place."

Regina narrowed her eyes a bit, unused to David being so brazen. "Eight, then."

David chuckled a bit to himself, enjoying that he was now in control of this situation. Regina thought she had him right where she wanted him, but she had no idea that it was _he_ who was playing _her_. If that kiss were any indication, it would be easier than he thought to get information out of her. Still chuckling, David turned around and headed to the entryway. "See you tomorrow night."

Regina stood in stunned silence before hurrying after him. "Wait! Aren't you going to say hello to Henry? He's upstairs working on his homework."

David had already pulled the door open and paused with his hand on the edge of it. "I'll see him again soon. Tell him hi for me."

Regina only managed a faint nod as he pulled the door shut behind him.

She leaned heavily on the wall behind her. What had gotten into her? She'd started this whole thing as a way to keep David and Mary Margaret apart; a safety net in case the current relationship Mary Margaret was in were to fail. She'd never expected the pain of his rejection or the sudden fear that she'd lose him as a friend. She hadn't even thought that they were friends. She was just using him. But when he'd left that night, she realized how much more he'd become. Without Graham, David was the only person in Storybrooke who treated her like a fellow human being. There was Kathryn now, but that was different. Conversations didn't come easily the way they did with David. For some reason, they were able to talk for hours on end and Regina would sometimes forget that this was all a game of pretend.

She cursed herself for showing that vulnerability to David in her apology. Maybe she could blame it on playing the part, trying to get him to believe that she was sincere in her wish to continue their friendship. Deep down, though, she knew that wasn't the truth. She really had been scared, and when he stopped her to tell her that he had feelings for her, she'd felt such a rush of relief. Then, she'd allowed her old plan to take over again. She'd been able to beat back the feelings of fear and once more revel in another victory. David was falling for her. In no time, they could start a relationship, and Mary Margaret would know once and for all that David was off limits to her. The curse would never break, not so long as Regina could help it.

But then, that damn kiss…She wasn't supposed to feel anything when she kissed Snow White's Prince Charming, but there'd been a spark. A tingle of something she hadn't felt in a very long time and she'd allowed herself to give in to that kiss. She'd just have to be stronger. It couldn't happen again. This new relationship with David was for one purpose only; she was going to keep Prince Charming away from Snow White forever, allowing her curse to remain safely intact.

* * *

David stopped halfway down the path so that he could turn to look up at Henry's window. Henry, sensing eyes on him again, looked up. He leaned toward the window slightly, a question on his face, and David answered with a small nod and a thumbs-up. Henry jumped up from his chair, knocking it over in his excitement, and pumped his fists in victory. He turned, listening to something outside of the room and David figured it must have been Regina checking on the noise when he saw Henry yell something back.

Turning back, Henry grinned at him. It looked like Operation Cobra was alive and going strong. David just wished that he could share the excitement.


	5. Chapter 5

David was right on time. At eight on the dot, he was ringing the doorbell at the Mills' mansion. Henry was the one to pull open the door this time, a grin on his face.

"David!" He waited for him to step inside before he shut the door and tackled him in a hug.

"Hey," David chuckled. "It hasn't been _that_ long."

"I know," Henry said without pulling away. He looked up from his embrace. "It's just better when you're here."

That pulled at David's heart. His grandson wasn't happy and, looking down into his smiling face, he knew he'd do anything to fix that. He ruffled his hair and patted him on the back. "Well then, I'm sorry it took me so long."

Regina stepped into the room and smiled when she saw them. "You look handsome," she said by way of a greeting. And he did. David had cleaned up and put on a dress shirt with his black slacks. It was quite a change from the flannel, though she wouldn't admit she'd grown accustomed to the flannel.

Henry pulled out of the hug, but didn't let go of David. He turned to face Regina, but stayed tucked into David's side, and David gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"You look pretty great yourself," David said honestly. Though she normally wore dresses to work, this one was different. It was a well-fitted black dress, like many of her dresses, but this one had a more modest neckline and, most notably different, a thin yellow belt accentuating her small waist. The splash of color brightened her normally dark look quite a bit. Occasionally, Regina would wear red and blue, but the yellow was a new color on her.

"Thank you." Regina smiled. "Are we all ready to go?" she asked, looking between her son and David. David had called earlier to say that he'd found someone to watch Henry and they could drop him off on their way to dinner.

"I'm set. Henry?"

Henry nodded.

"Alright. Henry, don't forget to grab your jacket." Regina watched as he rolled his eyes.

"I know." He pulled away from David and went to the closet to retrieve his coat.

"Do you have something to read?" she asked.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm bringing my comics. Can we just go?"

She tried to smile at him as she nodded. Everything was a battle and no matter what she said, she seemed to only irritate him further. All she wanted was for things to go back to the way they had been. Back when Henry hadn't read the book, before he'd thought of her as the Evil Queen. They'd been happy and he hadn't turned everything into a fight.

She hadn't realized that she'd drifted off into her thoughts as she watched her son with sadness and she jumped when she felt a hand on her elbow.

"Hey," David said softly. He'd noticed Henry's less-than civil replies and couldn't help but feel slightly guilty when he saw Regina's reaction.

Regina looked up into David's eyes, startled. She was worried he was going to say something about the awkward mother/son moment that had just taken place, but he didn't.

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded, reaching for her coat.

Henry was the first out the door to the truck, backpack slung over his shoulder. David hung back to wait for Regina to lock up. When she turned, he held out an arm for her and she slipped her arm into it, a question on her face.

"This wouldn't be much of a date if I didn't escort you to the car," he told her. If he was going to do this, he needed to make sure that she'd never suspect he was just playing a part.

"I suppose," she said. "I guess it's just been a while since I've been on a date."

"Oh? What about Graham?" Oops. David couldn't believe he'd let that question escape. He knew that Graham and Regina's relationship was supposed to have been a secret, and more than that, he suspected that she had something to do with Graham's sudden 'heart failure'.

She stopped walking and looked at him in shock.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…I know that it must have been painful when he…" he tried to cover for himself, not sure exactly what to say, but he didn't have to worry.

"It's alright," Regina told him. "I'm just surprised that you knew. Was it that obvious?" she asked, and she actually seemed a little embarrassed.

"Well…" David trailed off. "I don't think _everyone_ in town knew."

"So it was obvious," she finished, and started to walk again. After a short moment of silence she surprised David, saying, "Graham and I never had a real date." She looked up at the sky in thought and shook her head slowly as they neared the truck. "All of those years, and we really never had an actual date."

It was as if she was realizing this for the first time, and perhaps she was, David realized. "Well that's a shame," he told her. He opened the door for her and returned the smile she gave him as he gave her a hand up. He shut the door and walked around to the driver's side. He just needed to keep her talking like this. If she stayed this open, it shouldn't be too hard to find out information relevant to the curse. He gave Henry a small wink as he slid in next to him and Henry smiled.

"Tonight's going to be a good night," he said and both Regina and Henry smiled.

* * *

"Really?" Regina asked skeptically.

David had just parked the car across from Granny's diner.

"You're going to have Granny and Ruby look after Henry? This was your plan? They have a restaurant to run – there's no time to look after an eleven year old boy."

"It's already after dinner rush," David assured her. "There won't be very many customers and I trust them. They've became really good friends of mine."

Henry climbed out of the truck behind David and watched him walk around to help Regina out.

"Trust me," David said as she stepped out. "He'll be fine."

She glanced at Henry as David shut the door and finally nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

"Yes!" Henry said excitedly. "Does this mean that I can have a milkshake? Do you think they'd let me have one?"

"Henry!" Regina scolded. "You've already had dinner and dessert. You're going to go to bed as soon as we get home and the last thing you need is more sugar."

Henry scuffed the bottom of his shoes on the pavement as they crossed the street. "Fine," he mumbled.

"How about we go out for milkshakes another time?" she asked, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Yeah, whatever," was the only response she received.

They all remained silent until they entered the diner.

"Hey, Ruby," Henry greeted as he walked over and plopped onto a stool in front of her.

"Hey, kid," she said back. "I heard you're hanging out with us tonight."

"Yep."

Granny appeared from the kitchen and smiled at Henry before looking at David and Regina. "A date, hmm?" She looked questioningly at David and then moved an appraising eye on Regina.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Regina asked hotly.

"I just find it interesting is all," Granny replied. "How about a glass of water?" she asked Henry, turning away from the pair.

"Sure, thanks," Henry said, pulling out a comic book.

"You don't have to worry," she said. "We'll take good care of him."

"I'm sure you will," David told her hurriedly, seeing Regina open her mouth to reply with something he had a feeling would be either sarcastic or rude.

"Yes, well…" Granny looked between the two of them once more, shaking her head almost imperceptibly. "You two have fun on your…date." She wasn't going out of her way to hide her distaste for David's choice in dinner dates.

Regina narrowed her eyes at Granny, but walked over to Henry. "We'll be back in an hour," she told him. She reached out to smooth back his hair, but he shrugged away from her hand.

"Fine."

Regina quickly retracted her hand, hurt by his reaction and also embarrassed that it had been witnessed by everyone. Looking up, she was grateful to at least see that Ruby and Granny were pretending not to have noticed.

David, however, _was_ watching. She couldn't quite decipher his expression, but a minute later, he was holding out a hand to her. "Ready?" he asked, and she nodded silently.

He put a hand on her back as she passed by and guided her lightly through the door. When they were outside the diner and she started for the truck, however, he stopped her.

"Aren't we going to dinner?" she asked in confusion.

"We are," he confirmed.

"Alright…." She tilted her head to look at him. "So where are we going?"

"Follow me."

When he led her down the alley toward the inn, she paused. "Our first date and you're taking me to a hotel?"

He laughed out loud. "No. Though, I can see now how this looks. You were kind enough to cook for me the other night and I thought I'd return the favor."

"I'm afraid I still don't see where a room at the inn comes into play." She followed him slowly, not sure what to expect.

"I'm divorced, Regina. I don't have a house anymore, and oddly enough, there are no places available in Storybrooke for rent _or_ for sale. For now, I'm renting a room from Granny."

"You've been staying here the last few weeks?" Regina asked incredulously. Of course, she knew that there weren't any places on the market in Storybrooke. There'd never been a need for that. She'd just never thought about that when it came to David and his divorce. She almost felt guilty. "You should have said something."

"What would it have changed?" David asked. "There's still no place for me to stay."

Regina gave a slight nod. "Still, you should have told me." She allowed a few seconds of silence. "I'm curious, though…How did you manage to cook dinner without a kitchen?"

"Ahhh." David turned and walked backward so that he could face her as he talked. "That is where Granny comes in. She very graciously allowed me to use her kitchen."

"And she trusted you not to burn the place down?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey!" David said, pulling the door open with one hand and placing the other one over his chest in mock offense. "I'll have you know, I'm an excellent cook."

Regina stepped inside. "I can't picture it."

"Well, then," he grinned at her. "Prepare to be surprised."

This was so much easier than he thought it would be. He'd dreaded the evening, picturing it full of awkward silences and faked pleasantries, but it wasn't like that at all. When Regina let her guard down just a tiny bit, she could be rather enjoyable. She allowed him to joke with her and she joked with him in return. In fact, if he wasn't careful, he might forget his true purpose in this evening.

Regina herself was having a difficult time reminding herself that none of this was real. The playful banter came easily and she found herself truly laughing for the first time in a long while. Sure, her ultimate goal was to keep David and Mary Margaret separated, but would it be so terrible if she allowed herself to enjoy spending time with him? If anything, it would make it more harmful to Snow if she were to ever find out. Wouldn't it?

A large part of her warned her that it also exposed her to pain. Anything that she allowed herself to enjoy would be turned against her if it ever came apart. But the smaller part of her didn't care. The whole purpose of casting this curse was to have her happy ending. How was she ever supposed to have that if she didn't allow herself to enjoy anything?

So this time, instead of closing herself off completely, she allowed herself to relax, if only slightly. Now, there were just a few more reasons to make sure the curse stayed unbroken.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry it's been so long! Reviews are appreciated.**

Regina let out a laugh as she set her wine glass back down on the table. She was genuinely surprised at the way the night had been going so far. David was entertaining, intelligent and funny. Without Snow, she was beginning to know more and more about him as an individual, and unexpectedly, she was finding him extremely likable.

"Dinner was delicious David," she complimented him. "Where did you learn to cool like that?" Another surprise she hadn't expected from the seemingly simple stable boy.

"I'm divorced now. I had to learn how to feed myself pretty quickly," he joked. In actuality, a little of his knowledge had come from his mother, but as poor as they'd been, they'd never had much to work with. She'd done her best. When he'd moved to the castle, he'd spent much of his time in the kitchens with the staff. King George would have been furious had he ever known, but David didn't care. It was the only place where he could sit down and enjoy the company of people more like him. Real, honest, hard-working people who were just trying to make a living and enjoy life as much as they were able. They'd been uncomfortable and wary around him at first, but eventually they'd grown accustomed to his presence. That was when they'd started to show him how they made the elaborate dishes they did. Eventually, he'd even started helping prepare the meals he himself would eat later with the king. He'd come to enjoy those times as one of the only escapes he had from his new life as prince.

Of course, he couldn't tell Regina any of that. Even if it hadn't made it obvious that he had his memories from their world, he didn't feel like sharing such a particularly personal part of his life with her. Besides, he'd noticed that everyone else in town had similarly vague answers to personal questions. It was as if, along with removing all of their memories, the curse had replaced them with a blurry, generic set. They all had a basic sense of who they were and what they'd done, but there were no details.

Regina chuckled at David's answer, "yes, I suppose that's true, isn't it?" She leaned back slightly in her chair, absentmindedly running her finger along the base of her wine glass. "I have to admit – I wasn't expecting to have such a nice time tonight." At David's curious expression, she added, "Don't get me wrong – I enjoy your company. I just…I wasn't sure how we'd hit it off." She looked at him for a moment as if she were considering whether or not she wanted to say what she was thinking. Almost hesitantly, she said, "I'm glad we're friends."

David watched her, trying to decipher the meaning behind the words. The way she'd said it, it sounded as if she were speaking from a place more meaningful than the front she put up for their friendship.

With David looking at her that way, Regina suddenly found herself going over her words, wondering if she'd said the wrong thing. "I don't mean to say that I don't still want more. I'm just glad that I've gotten to know you. I still hope, maybe," she looked up at him hopefully, "we might get to know each other a little better?"

Picking up his wine glass, he held it up and smiled at her. "I'd agree to that."

She clinked her glass gently against his and they both took a sip.

The smile that spread across Regina's face seemed so warm, he had to wonder the exact cause. Was it because she'd won – he was going to go along with her plan? Or could it possibly be that she maybe _did_ want more.

No. Regina would never allow herself to develop any sort of feelings for the husband of her mortal enemy. He shook his head slightly to clear away the silly thought. "Well, I suppose I should be getting you and Henry back home."

"Right," Regina said, glancing at the clock. "It's already past Henry's bedtime."

* * *

The trek back to the diner and the drive back to the mansion were both awkwardly silent this time, but not for the reasons either Regina or David had originally thought. David was thinking uncomfortably about a Regina who was showing a decidedly _not_ evil side. Regina was having an inner battle about her changing views of David and the dangerously familiar beginnings of feelings surrounding these new revelations. Henry sat in between the two, occasionally looking up at both of them. Even he could feel the heaviness of the silence pressing in around them and knew that breaking it was probably not the best idea.

When they finally reached the house, both Regina and David were quick to open their doors, eager to feel the fresh air again. Though they were uncomfortable for entirely different reasons, the root of it was the same. They'd had a nice night, and neither of them liked that thought.

As Regina pulled out her key, she glanced down at Henry. "Why don't you go upstairs and start getting ready for bed? You can brush your teeth and change into your pajamas and I'll be up in a minute."

Henry nodded and turned to David. "Goodnight," he said, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"Goodnight, buddy." When Henry pulled back, he added, "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Henry grinned. "Okay. Bye!" He pushed past Regina into the house and closed the door behind him.

David noticed that Regina was again looking after Henry, this time staring at a closed door. And again, he felt guilty. He knew that he shouldn't; after everything that Regina had done, why should it matter to him how she felt now that her son had found out the truth about her? But it did, and now that he was in Henry's life, he felt like he'd been flaunting the love that Henry refused to give her. This time, he felt he had to say something.

"He'll come around," he told her.

Regina nearly jumped and turned to face him slowly, shaking her head sadly. "No. I don't think he will."

"All kids go through a phase," he said lamely.

"I don't think this is just a phase," Regina told him. "We were happy once, but ever since he found that book..." she trailed off, before shaking her head, stopping that line of thinking. "But now he has you. You don't know how grateful I am, David. You've brought back his smile and his laughter. It's nice to see again, even if it's not something I can do."

This evening had taken a very different turn, David thought to himself. And so had he. He knew it as he reached out and gently pulled Regina forward into his arms. He wrapped them around her firmly, doing the only thing he knew how to take away some of the immense pain he saw in Regina's eyes.

She stiffened at first, not sure what to do. Finally, her arms snaked around David's waist and clung to him tightly as she rested her head on his chest, holding back tears.

David allowed the silence to continue. He could feel by the way Regina was hanging on for dear life that she needed this. He allowed himself for now to forget that she was his enemy and that he was doing this to gain the upper hand. Right now, she was just a distraught woman who needed someone to comfort her.

After a while, Regina composed herself and pulled back. "Thank you," she said quietly, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry I ruined the end of our date," she attempted jokingly.

"Hey," David said, lifting her chin. "You didn't ruin it."

She leaned forward suddenly, kissing him again.

There was a lot more feeling in it this time, and David, against his will, found his hands moving up to cup her face, holding her to him.

Snapping out of it, he finally pulled back, a little breathlessly.

"Wow," Regina said quietly, holding a hand to her lips. "Goodnight, David," she said quickly.

He barely had time to return it before she was inside, closing the door.

Regina and David both leaned against the door on opposite sides, eyes closed, thoughts swimming. What had they gotten themselves into?


	7. Chapter 7

**As you may have read in my other AN, my schedule had become inhuman, thus the lack of writing. It has been fixed, however, so I'm again at your mercy. ;) This chapter came out way more easily than I'd expected, so I'm quite pleased with it. There's the usual Henry/David bonding time, though it's not as usual as it usually is (hehe, fun sentence). I also have a guest appearance by a character from my other fics. She's obviously not the EXACT same, but the basic character is there. I was just too fond of her to keep her contained to one series. **

**Last, but CERTAINLY not least, things heat up a bit between Regina and David this chapter. Mwahaha. I'd love to hear what you all think!**

"So?" Henry leaned forward across the table in his impatience to hear about the previous night. David had taken him to Granny's for lunch, having received Regina's permission to do so. "Come on, hurry up and tell me. I have to be back at school soon and I want to hear _everything_. Was it bad? You guys were really quiet on the ride home. Did something happen?"

David chuckled. "I can't answer you if you keep asking questions."

Henry blushed, looking down at his napkin sheepishly. "Sorry."

Shaking his head with a smile, David took a drink of his water. "It's fine." He kept in another laugh when he looked up to see Henry visibly holding in more questions. He was still waiting for David to answer.

The truth was, David wasn't exactly sure what to say. The purpose behind getting Regina to go on a date with him had been to gain more information, not to enjoy himself. He couldn't tell his grandson how much fun he'd had; he especially couldn't tell him how much he'd enjoyed the kiss at the end of the night.

"It went well," he told him honestly. "We talked a lot."

"Did you learn anything?" Henry was leaning forward again in his eagerness to hear all about it. He was leaning on his arms, literally lifting himself up out of the booth with excitement.

David shook his head. "Not yet. It's still early, though. The important thing is that we're talking."

"Right," Henry agreed. "She has to trust you. That's when she might tell you something on accident – a clue to help break the curse."

"Exactly. These things take time."

"I wish they didn't. I want the curse to be broken _now_. Then I can live with my _real_ family; you and Snow and Emma."

They looked up then as Ruby approached the table with two plates. "Alright," she smiled. "One cheeseburger with extra ketchup and curly fries," she set down the plate in front of Henry, who rubbed his hands together in anticipation, "and one hamburger, everything on it, home fries and an extra pickle on the side."

"Thanks, Ruby." David smiled warmly at his old friend from the Enchanted Forest. Though she didn't have her memories, she was so much the Red he'd known, he sometimes forgot she was just as cursed as the rest of them. He missed their friendship.

"You're welcome. Sure you don't want anything to drink but the waters?"

"We're fine, thanks."

"'kay. Well, you know where to find me if you change your mind." She grinned at them before wandering over to her other customers.

David allowed Henry to finish taking his first bite before he started in on what was bothering him. "Hey, Henry? We should talk about that real family thing."

Henry swallowed the rest of his food before tilting his head to the side. "What about it?" He took another full bite as soon as he'd asked the question.

"I just think you should maybe stop calling Emma your real mom in front of Regina." At Henry's confused look, David sighed. His intention was not to make Henry feel guilty. "It hurts her."

"So?" Henry genuinely seemed not to understand the problem. "She's the Evil Queen."

David fought the urge to close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose. "That may be true, but Henry, she's still your mom. She raised you."

"But she's evil."

"But she still has feelings!" David cringed when he realized he'd snapped at Henry. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

Henry had leaned back in shock. He'd never heard David sound like that. After his apology, he relaxed slightly. "I just don't get it," he said, careful to sound neutral this time. He didn't want to make David angry again. "She's the Evil Queen and you're Prince Charming. You hate each other. How come you don't think she's evil anymore?"

"It's not about whether or not she's evil. It's about what's right. She's your mom and she loves you. Tell me – has she ever done anything evil to you?"

Henry thought back over the years. He couldn't come up with anything more than her grounding him for not doing his chores, or not letting him have dessert if he didn't finish his dinner. He didn't think that was the kind of evil David was talking about, though. "No," he finally said.

"And don't you think it makes her sad when you tell her she's not your mom and that she's evil?"

"I don't know," Henry said, playing with his fries. Meeting David's gaze, he finally said, "Yeah, probably, I guess." He looked at him thoughtfully for a minute. "But aren't you kind of doing the same thing? You're pretending to like her when you really don't. Wouldn't that hurt her feeling, too, if she found out?"

It was often easy to forget just how insightful Henry was for a ten year old.

"Yeah, buddy. I suppose it is."

"Okay, so you mean, like, I should treat mom better so that she doesn't feel like I'm trying to break the curse anymore? That way she'll maybe talk to you more because she's not scared of Emma winning?"

And there went the insight. Henry was back to being a child with a mission; a child with black and white views of the world. But what could David say? It felt completely different. Regina and David had a long history of hating one another and being sworn enemies, whereas, to Henry, she'd only ever been a mother. But he knew he'd be a hypocrite to tell Henry to do one thing while he did another. He also knew that he couldn't stop what he'd started. He and Regina had already made progress and he couldn't lose sight of his ultimate goal; breaking the curse. And he refused to admit that he felt guilty using Regina to do it, so finally, he nodded reluctantly. "I think it's a good idea, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Henry smiled brightly and went back to eating his burger.

David felt even worse about using Henry against her, but he knew deep down that his grandson really did love Regina. His determination to break the curse and the adventures that went along with it just had a way of masking those feelings. He knew eventually all of the good childhood memories with his mother would come flooding back; at least, what he hoped were good memories. He again refused to admit that he thought Regina was an excellent mother. He'd witnessed it himself, and Henry's constant cheery disposition was living proof.

This had originally seemed like the perfect plan, but more and more complications were popping up. Still, he knew, the curse had to be broken, and this was the fastest way to do it.

* * *

After dropping Henry back at the school, David headed to the Mayor's office. Lunch with Henry had stirred up a lot of thoughts and he wanted to talk to Regina before he lost his nerve.

Not seeing the assistant at her usual post, David made his way to the doors. He knocked softly before opening one just enough to stick his head through. "Mind if I come in?"

Regina looked up from a pile of paperwork in surprise. She gave him one of her rare genuine smiles that he couldn't help but return. "Of course not."

David stepped in, closing the door behind him. "I hope I'm not interrupting you. Your assistant wasn't at her desk."

"Oh, no – not at all. Annie just stepped out to grab us lunch. In fact, you're giving me a welcome break from quite possibly the most boring part of my job; citizen complaints." Picking up one of the forms, she read, "The stop sign on the corner of 5th and Main has faded and is no longer _red_ enough."

"That's not an _actual_ complaint," David said incredulously, pulling the paper from her grasp and looking it over for himself.

"Oh, yes," she nodded. "And I'm afraid that's not even the worst of it. Still – it _is_ my job, and I have to read through all of them."

"You really do this," David muttered, more of a statement than a question. He'd never thought Regina saw her position as Mayor as anything more than another way to 'rule' over the people; a power trip. All evidence to the contrary; it appeared she took this job very seriously.

"I do," she affirmed, taking the paper from him and placing it back on the stack in front of her. "I told the people that all of their grievances would be heard, and I'm not one to break my promises."

"You really care about this town, don't you?" he asked, not having expected it.

"Someone has to. You seem surprised."

"No. I mean, yes. I guess I just always thought you were the only person willing to step up and organize everything." He kept the power-trip assumption to himself. "You just always seemed not to like anyone here." He grimaced. It had slipped out unintentionally. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

"No, it's alright." Regina looked surprised that he'd said it, but she found herself slowly nodding. "It's true I don't have the best rapport with the people of Storybrooke, but's it's my home. I want it to remain a nice place to live; a safe, clean, efficient town with a low crime rate and good schools." Ready to change subjects, she picked up the stack of papers, setting them on end and shuffling them against the desk to straighten them. She placed them off to the side and cleared her throat, clasping her hands and resting them on top of her desk. "I wasn't expecting an office visit today. Is there something wrong with the pet shelter? Would you like a form to fill out?" The corner of her mouth twitched in the beginnings of a smile as she cocked her head in the direction of the pile of complaints she'd just relocated.

David laughed. "Nothing like that." There was that light joking again. It was the trait of hers that caught him most off guard; something that probably led to the way he made his next statement. "I'm here for a much more selfish reason. I just wanted to see you."

He hadn't meant to say it that way. He'd wanted to say something more casual like, 'I was in the area and thought I'd stop by', or, 'I had a good time last night and was wondering if you'd be interested in doing it again soon?'. What he'd said had been much simpler, but betrayed feelings he'd thought he'd successfully buried.

Regina, too, seemed surprised, but then that dazzling smile was back, and she stood, rounding the desk to face him. "I'm glad you came by. I've been wanting to tell you how wonderful last night was – even though I made it so awkward." She chuckled. "Given that you're here, it seems not to have ruined my chances at another date. Has it?"

He shook his head. "After that kiss? You could have punched me in the face and I still wouldn't say no to another date."

She bit her bottom lip and looked down almost shyly before covering it with a smirk. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"I hope not." David's words were half-hearted, his attention having been drawn to her lips. He couldn't help the way his pulse quickened or the sudden urge to lean forward and capture those lips with his own.

Regina didn't fail to notice his reaction, and found her own self-control to be wavering. She was the first to break, but he met her halfway, their lips meeting urgently.

Feeling a sudden surge of need, Regina pulled David's shirt up his body. He complied, breaking the kiss momentarily and lifting his arms so she could remove it fully. As they returned to the frenzied kissing, he moved his hands to work on the buttons of her blouse. Lust clouded his mind, making him forget what exactly he was doing, and _who_ he was doing it with.

All of that ended a moment later, when Regina's hand moved up his abdomen. It came to rest firmly – palm flat – over his now racing heart.

He jerked back just as the intercom sounded.

"Mayor Mills – I have your lunch when you're ready for it."

Regina and David stared at each other, chests still heaving. Regina couldn't' be sure, but she'd thought – for just the smallest moment – that she'd seen a flash of fear in the former prince's eyes. She shook it off a moment later. It was probably the surprise at almost being caught.

It was moments like these that she appreciated the competency of her young assistant. Most other people would simply have barged into the office without knocking, and without a second thought.

After she'd caught her breath, Regina reached over her desk, holding down the button. "Thank you, Annie. I'm just finishing up a meeting with Mr. Nolan."

There was an awkward silence as David reached down to pick up his shirt and Regina re-buttoned her blouse. She walked over to the mirror, fixing her makeup and shaking out her hair; she turned as she tucked the last strand behind her ear. Seeing the signs of regret on David's face and finding she didn't want that to keep her from seeing him again, Regina ended any second thoughts by saying, "Tonight. Pick me up at eight." She didn't give him a chance to argue as she pulled open the door to her office and held it for him.

Now that her assistant could hear, he knew the subject was closed. He narrowed his eyes at her, knowing she'd done it on purpose. He walked past her, missing the small smile she allowed when his back was to her.

Giving her blouse one last tug, she dropped her mask back into place and followed him out.

Annie looked up. 'Have a good day, Mr. Nolan," she said pleasantly as he passed the desk. No one could quite make out what he muttered back, but he at least attempted a smile before disappearing. Annie turned to her boss, an unassuming smile on her face as she held out the salad.

"Thank you," Regina told her, once again grateful that Annie didn't try to pry.

"You're welcome."

Immersing herself in checking the new emails, Annie wasted no time in getting back to work.

Regina walked back into her office, knowing she wouldn't be doing any work the rest of the afternoon. Her thoughts were in the future, and with her mind on that evening, there was no way she'd be able to focus on anything else.


	8. Chapter 8

**This month has been insane, and there's still two weeks left of hell for me, so I can't promise lots of updates, but I'll be attempting another one for this story in the next few days, along with at least one for my other two stories. I'd love some reviews! :) **

Regina found herself pacing nervously in her hallway. She'd initially finished getting ready half an hour before, but had already changed her outfit three times. Really, she knew it shouldn't be such a concern; she wasn't _really_ dating David, and he already seemed interested enough to continue seeing her, but she couldn't stop a part of herself from worrying about what he'd think of her outfit, her hair, any little detail. As much as she didn't want it to, she knew his opinion of her now mattered greatly.

She jumped when the doorbell rang and froze in her tracks. She wasn't sure whether to be terrified that he was now here, or grateful that she didn't have to suffer any more anticipation.

Taking one last look in the mirror over the table in the entry to ensure every last hair was in place, she sighed heavily. It would have to do; it was too late to change anything now.

A minute later, she found that her worrying had been for nothing. David grinned upon seeing her and said, "You look great! That color looks amazing on you." He gave her deep blue dress an appreciative once-over before looking back up to meet her eye. "You look different when you wear color; happier. You know, this was the color you were wearing the first night you cooked dinner for me."

"I remember. I'm surprised that you do."

To be honest, David was rather surprised himself. He hadn't thought Regina made that kind of impression on him, especially back then, before his feelings had become confused. Beyond that she was the Evil Queen, he hadn't thought he paid much attention; it had been more about being cautious. But the more he looked back at that first night, the fonder he became of the memory. It had been the night he'd seen Regina as a person for the first time, not simply an enemy; a villain.

Regina watched the expressions flit across David's face; surprise, joy, sadness, and then a sudden seriousness that disappeared as quickly as the other emotions as he straightened and hid his feelings behind his own mask. Charming had always been an open book with his emotions – he'd never learned the importance of hiding them before they could be seen. Even a momentary flicker was a major vulnerability. It allowed others insight into what one was thinking or feeling.

This time, however, Regina couldn't tell what had caused such a wide variety of emotion and asked with genuine curiosity, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," David told her, trying to sound relaxed. "I just remembered something I'm supposed to do."

"You're not going to cancel on me, are you?" she asked teasingly, appeased by his answer.

"No, no – nothing like that." In fact, this date was exactly what he was supposed to be doing; the problem was, he'd allowed himself to forget for a moment the true purpose of this date. Again. It was becoming scarily easier to do and it made him second-guess himself for about the millionth time since starting this whole charade. "Ready?" He kept his thoughts hidden this time, extending an arm out to her.

She raised an eyebrow. "We're going out?" Even as she was asking, she was looping her arm through his.

"Well, you didn't really clarify this afternoon. You said be here, and I'm here. I assumed that's what you were dressed up for."

She gave him an amused smile. "You were right."

"Testing me?" He led her gently to the coat rack, where he pulled a light jacket down and held it out for her so she could slip into it.

"Just keeping you on your toes."

"Well you don't have to worry about that." He held the door open for her and waited patiently as she locked it behind her. "I know things will never be boring with you. I will always be on my toes."

She turned to look at him, thinking she heard something more behind his words, but she found nothing beyond an innocent smile and sparkling warmth in his eyes.

David smiled. He was getting better at handling the situation. As long as he viewed the past in a way he could joke about, he came across as sincere. It was easier to pretend.

"Where's Henry tonight?" he asked as they walked side by side down the path.

"With Annie. She agreed to watch him for the evening."

"Even last moment like this?"

Regina nodded. "She was free this evening and she and Henry get along well. She didn't mind – I couldn't have asked for a better assistant."

David found himself wondering who Annie had been back in their land – in the Enchanted Forest – to have wound up working so closely with Regina in this world. She was too kindhearted to have been any of the queen's loyal court. But she wasn't afraid of her, either; not like the rest of the people in this town seemed to be.

The ride to the diner was silent, but this time not awkwardly so. They both had enough thoughts to keep themselves occupied.

"We're really going to have to find another place to have our dates," Regina commented as David offered her a hand out of his truck.

"This is our first time," he said in confusion. "Last time, I cooked for you."

"Yes, dear, I remember – it was delicious, thoughtful, and I appreciated it."

"Then what's the matter with Granny's?"

"It's not really anything wrong, it's just not an overwhelmingly romantic location. I come here for coffee."

"Alright, point taken. Then what would you suggest? Granny's is one of the only restaurants in town."

"Well, we'll just have to figure something out – get a little creative."

"We don't have to go in tonight if you don't want to."

"Don't be ridiculous, David. We're already here and it's too late to do anything else. This will be fine." She surprised him when she wound her fingers through his and tugged on his hand, pulling him toward the front door of the diner. "This is perfect for tonight."

Even after he'd matched her step, she didn't release his hand, and he found he rather liked the feeling.

This evening, the diner was slightly busier than it had been on their previous date. Conversations, clinking silverware and laughter filled the air until the moment the couple stepped inside. It stopped gradually as people began to notice the pair, and more specifically, their entwined fingers. It was no secret in town that David had been spending more time at the mayor's house, eating dinner with both her and her son, but no one had expected the gentle man from the pet shelter to start a relationship so soon after his divorce; and especially not with the one woman in town everyone was wary of.

David felt Regina's hand shift in his in discomfort, but it didn't go beyond that. She straightened her posture and glared around at everyone, daring them to say anything, and silently admonishing them for not minding their own business.

It didn't take more than a second for everyone to snap back to staring at their plates; no one wanted to remain under the scrutiny of the mayor for long. Conversations slowly started back up and the sounds of the diner returned to normal.

A feeling, not unlike pride, flooded David, catching him off guard. To all outward appearances, nothing fazed this woman. He'd been among the masses back in the Enchanted Forest that believed this woman feared nothing. How could someone with no heart fear anything? She was cold, evil and cruel. But now, he'd been allowed to see another side of her, and now he knew that the thoughts of others did in fact bother her. It wasn't a lack of feeling or fear that gave her power over these people – that much was made obvious by the slight shaking of her hand in his.

Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, David led her across the diner to the last available booth. Almost all of the tables were still open, but he felt seating them in the center of the room might not be the best idea. They'd drawn enough attention as it was, and he really didn't feel like being subjected to any more stares. He didn't think Regina would appreciate it, either.

Red made her way over to their table, notepad in hand, and leaned casually with her hand against the side of the booth. "Second date, huh?" she asked, moving her eyes between them.

"Yes," David told her, his tone warning her not to make any flippant comments about it.

Ruby seemed to get the message and stood up straight. "Alright, what can I get you?"

David motioned for Regina to start and she said, "My usual salad and just a water to drink. Please," she added as an afterthought when she caught David's eye.

"You got it. David?"

"I'll take the pasta and a coke please, Ruby."

"Comin' right up."

Ruby disappeared into the kitchen and Regina was about to say something when she noticed David suddenly stiffen as the bell over the front door rang, indicating someone coming inside.

"What is it?" Regina asked, but her question was answered as she turned in her seat to see who had caused such a reaction in David.

"You were right. We shouldn't have come here." David averted his eyes quickly as Mary Margaret walked in on the arm of her date, Malcolm; the man David had known as Lancelot in their world. The fact that this was a man he respected and considered a great friend made it even harder because he couldn't be angry with either of them. It wasn't their fault that they didn't remember. It hurt enormously to watch them together, but he knew there was nothing he could do.

Regina, turning back to face David, felt a large pang of guilt as she took in his expression. Their love was one deep enough to extend through worlds and memories; at least, on David's side. And now, he didn't have that anymore. Hurting David, while an unavoidable side-effect, had never been her ultimate goal. He'd simply been in the line of fire in her master plan to hurt Snow White. She regretted that it had to hurt him so badly.

Reaching out her hand, she covered the one he had resting on the table. "We can leave, David."

He seemed to snap out of whatever headspace he was in and looked at her, turning his hand to grasp hers. "No. We're here now, we've ordered our food, and I'm on a date." He gave her a smile, and though he was trying desperately to hide just how much he was hurting, Regina could see the pain underneath.

"Yes, we are," she told him, letting go of his hand and sliding out of the booth. "And your date would like to get our dinner to-go." Before he could say anything to her, she was crossing the diner and talking to Ruby. A minute later, a brown paper bag was being handed to her and she was making her way back to him. "Ready?" she asked.

He stood and looked down at her, studying her for a moment before leaning down to kiss her gently. "Thank you," he told her.

This time, when heads turned to watch the exchange, the pair didn't notice the eyes that followed their exit. Even when Mary Margaret's eyes widened in surprise, David was too distracted by the woman leading him out of the diner to care.


	9. Chapter 9

**As promised, another chapter. This one marks a bit of a turning point for this story, and can I be the first to say...finally! Hahaha, I'm impatient about my writing sometimes. I'll be working on my other two stories when I can, but the muse is favoring this one for now, and I'll take it where I can get it. Don't waste a good thing, right? Have to run, but I'll keep writing, and you keep reviewing ;) **

Everything from dinner had been cleared and Regina and David were both relaxing in the living room.

"Thank you," David told her as she handed him a glass of her cider. "Not just for the drink. What you did tonight—"

"I didn't do anything, David. It was nothing."

"No, Regina – it wasn't nothing. You knew how uncomfortable I was with Mary Margaret there and you gave me an out. I really appreciate it." David knew that Regina was dating him to get back at Snow in some way, but that hadn't been what had shown tonight. She'd removed Snow from the equation completely, sparing David from the agony of watching his wife with another man. Of course, she didn't know that he was aware she was his wife, but she'd been able to tell he was still in pain. What she'd done tonight, she'd done for him.

Regina stayed quiet, a bit embarrassed by the acknowledgement.

David took a sip of his drink and set it down, reaching for Regina's hand. "Regina, really. Thank you. I owe you one fantastic date for this."

"You gave me one," Regina smiled. "What makes you think I didn't have a good time tonight?"

"Really?" David asked incredulously. "I took you to Granny's, subjected you to the town's nosiness, and you had to rescue me from a former crush. I can't imagine any of that is on the list of what makes up a good date."

Regina chuckled. "All true. Regardless, everything that followed was rather pleasant." Her face grew serious and she looked down into her lap. "David, I have to admit – I was not expecting things to go so well between us."

David remained silent, staring at her in astonishment. Was this the Evil Queen admitting she liked Prince Charming? It didn't' seem like a game to her anymore. Another question was – was this really the Evil Queen? Taken out of their world and away from magic, it was obvious Regina had changed. Yes, she was still manipulative, and yes, people still feared her, but she wasn't pure evil anymore. "I wasn't, either," he told her. "I'm glad I gave us a shot, though."

Regina smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling, and David had to admit that he'd never seen her looking more beautiful than she did in this moment. "Me, too."

He leaned forward slightly and she met him in the middle, kissing him slowly. It wasn't frenzied this time like it had been in her office. This time it was full of the feelings of the evening; the respect and appreciation they were starting to realize they had for one another.

David stood and reached out for Regina's hand. As she put her hand in his, she paused, looking into David's eyes, silently asking if they were really doing this. She found no doubt in them, so she allowed him to pull her to her feet. He led her to the stairs and she followed him to the top where he paused to allow her to guide him to her bedroom.

With the door shut behind them, Regina stepped back into David's arms. It wasn't until David's shirt was off and her dress was unzipped that she pulled back. "Wait," she said, holding a hand up.

They were now exactly where they'd left off when they were interrupted this afternoon, only this time, it was Regina stopping them.

"What is it?" David asked.

"This is wrong. We shouldn't be doing this."

David nodded slowly. "You're probably right, but I'm curious what _your_ reasons are."

"It wouldn't be fair to you. Not after tonight. I don't want you regretting this later and feeling like I took advantage of you."

David actually looked surprised at her words. That hadn't been what he was expecting to hear from her. "Take advantage of me? How would you be taking advantage of me?"

"Because of your feelings for Mary Margaret. You still have feelings for her. You wouldn't have reacted the way you did tonight if you didn't."

David started nodding, but it slowly turned to shaking his head. "The fact that you're thinking about that makes me even more sure that I _do_ want this." Inside, David's subconscious was screaming for him to take this out. Sleeping with Regina hadn't been a part of any plan and he sure as hell knew that he would be regretting it, and soon. But this new side of Regina – the thoughtful, smiling, _feeling_ side of her – was addicting. He wanted this, and right now, he wanted it more than he knew he would regret it. And so, he continued shaking his head, and reached to cup her face in his hand. "I appreciate you looking out for me, and I know it might be a bad idea, but right now…it feels right. Doesn't it feel right to you?" A part of him was hoping that she'd say no, that she'd walk away right now and spare him this horrible mistake, but an even larger part was telling him all the reasons this wasn't a mistake. He wanted this. Somehow, after only a few months of a pretended friendship with this woman, he'd developed heavy feelings for her.

"Yes," she finally whispered. She didn't move, but she allowed him to kiss her, pulling her bottom lip lightly between his teeth as he guided her toward the bed.

She allowed her dress to fall to the floor as she walked and David loosened the buckle on his jeans, sliding them off.

Regina, in an uncharacteristically vulnerable move, allowed David to climb on top, propping his arms on both sides of her so as not to crush her. She leaned her head up to kiss him, but after only a few short moments, she pulled back, resting her head against the pillows. "David."

Her voice was so quiet, he almost didn't hear her, even though she was still so close. "What is it?"

"If we do this...are you going to hate me?"

His eyebrows knit into a frown as he looked at her. That simple question and the way she'd asked it – there was no pretending anymore. This was the real thing. Not just for him – for her as well. She really was vulnerable, and in the same amount of time he'd developed feelings for her, she'd done the same for him, and beyond that, she'd gone from hating him to fearing that he'd hate her. Truly fearing it.

He didn't take her question lightly, and he didn't want to answer lightly, either. He could tell she was getting worried by the length of silence that was stretching out, and the contemplative expression on his face.

"No," he finally told her. "I'm not going to hate you."

Tentatively, she raised herself up again. "Okay." She was still hesitant in her movements, and David wondered if she were fighting this for reasons of her own.

He wasn't wrong. Regina _was_ fighting herself. Hadn't this originally been what she'd set out to do? But things had changed. She liked him – a lot. She wanted this desperately, but she knew being with him would change things between them for the worse. Maybe not immediately, but she knew it would in the long run. Sure, David said he wouldn't hate her, but that was cursed David. The second the curse broke, he would remember what she'd done and he _would_ hate her for it. And for some reason, she didn't think she could bear that. As he continued kissing her, however, she felt herself melting into his touch, and another realization came to her; it didn't matter. One way or the other, what she did here would make no difference. Either she'd win and the curse wouldn't break, rendering her fears pointless, or it would, in which case, he'd hate her regardless of her actions in this moment. In fact, she realized, now might be her only chance to feel something close to romantic love for the first time in a very long time. Right now, the man she'd come to have feelings for shared those feelings and wanted this as much as she did. Who knew when she'd have that chance again?

David felt the change instantly. Regina's kisses and movements became more urgent, no lingering hesitation, and he allowed himself to let go and follow her.

* * *

"Wow." David rolled onto his back, panting – trying to catch his breath, and Regina chuckled through her own labored breathing.

"Agreed."

David laid an arm across his face, trying to catch his breath. There was silence for a moment, and then he jolted up, feeling a hand on his chest.

It seemed, even after what they'd just done, David couldn't forget what those hands could do when it came to hearts. Even without magic, he still felt unnerved by those delicate fingers.

Of course, Regina couldn't know that he remembered, and he realized his mistake when he looked at her. She was staring at him with a mixture of concern, fear, and suspicion. Her hand hovered by her side where she'd pulled it back hurriedly, unsure of what had happened. She opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it.

"Sorry," he said, leaning back down. "Your hand felt cold." And because she still looked suspicious, he took her hand in his own, rubbed it a few times as if to warm it, brought it to his lips to kiss it, and then, in a gesture of innocent ignorance, placed it back on his heart. It took all of his control not to react and to keep his heart beating at a normal pace. He passed off his deep breaths as further recovery from their activities.

It seemed to reassure Regina, and she slid over on the bed until she was pressed against his side, and wrapped her arms around him, replacing her hand with her ear as she laid her head on his chest. He focused on matching his heart to the soft beat of Regina's that he could now feel against his side. It helped him get himself completely under control. This wasn't the Evil Queen, and she wasn't here to rip his heart out. Even if she'd wanted to, there was no way for her to do it.

Absentmindedly, he brought a hand up and gently ran his fingers through her hair. She sighed quietly and he looked down to notice that she was on the edge of sleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he settled back, allowing himself to grow tired as well.

* * *

Regina was the first to wake in the morning. It took a minute for her to remember the events of the night before and why she was wrapped around a warm body. When she did, she smiled. This was nice. Graham had never been one to cuddle, though neither had she. She stretched gently, and felt David stirring beneath her in response.

His eyes opened slowly, and he took his time focusing on her. There was a brief moment of panic as he wondered what he'd been thinking, but then she turned so she could prop her chin against his chest and look at him. He didn't care – last night had been wonderful. Seeing Regina's slight expression of worry, he smiled at her reassuringly.

She grinned then, and her smile was brilliant. It was warm, light, happy…it made her look years younger. She moved up to kiss him, and said, "I don't normally do this."

"What?"

"Any of this – allow someone to spend the night, cuddle, feel this relaxed in the morning. This isn't me."

David put a hand to her face and she leaned into it, closing her eyes. "Well, it should be. It suits you."

"Does it?"

He pulled her closer and she nuzzled her head into his neck, closing her eyes once more.

"Definitely."

She sighed and he leaned his head against hers as he felt her breath on his neck.

"Can we just stay like this for a while?" she asked, eyes still closed.

"Well, it is a Saturday. I don't see the harm."

He closed his eyes and started drifting back to sleep when the doorbell rang through the house.

Regina sighed and pulled herself up. "That'll be Annie with Henry," she said, reaching into her dresser and pulling out a pair of silk pajamas.

David instantly missed the warm contact and sat up as well, reaching for his jeans. "She was expecting to be bringing him back in the morning?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Regina reached down and tossed his shirt at him, smirking. "No. I told her if she hadn't heard from me by ten to keep him overnight and bring him by this morning. I didn't want to keep him up past his bedtime, and there was no reason to wake him once he'd already fallen asleep. Besides, I'd say it worked out rather well, wouldn't you?"

He laughed and shook his head. Rising to his feet, he turned serious. "How do you want to do this? Do you want me to slip out the back before you let him in?"

Regina frowned. "No. It's already nine, he doesn't have anything to suspect. We can just tell him you stopped by this morning. You can wait in the kitchen for us."

"Are you sure?"

Regina stepped up close and lifted herself to kiss him quickly. "I'm sure." Turning to the door, she said, "Now hurry up! They've already been waiting a while. I'm surprised Henry hasn't used the key to let himself in."

Even with her back turned as she was walking away, David could hear the smile in her voice. He shook his head as he quickened his steps to join her on the stairs. Just before she could leave him to answer the door, he called, "Wait!" and spun her into him, kissing her deeply.

Leaving her breathless, it was his turn to retreat with a smile, adding, "Can't very well do that with Henry in the house, and I'm impatient."

Regina watched his back with her fingers pressed to her smiling lips, until she was startled by the doorbell ringing for the second time. "Coming!"

This was looking to be a wonderful day.

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated, lovelies! And they just might inspire this continued muse. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Two more performances of my play and then I'm free. Well...less busy. I'll still have work, but I should also have more time for writing and I can get back to updating all of my stories more frequently. **

Henry swung his legs back and forth underneath him at the table, watching as his mom moved through the kitchen, preparing breakfast. He was looking between her and David. He may only be eleven, but he certainly wasn't blind. They kept smiling at each other when they thought he wasn't looking. Last night must have gone extremely well, he thought to himself. His mom was actually in a good mood for the first time in a very long time. She hadn't looked this happy since he was much younger.

Realizing that, he almost felt guilty about what they were doing. He hadn't thought she would actually like David. But then he remembered all of the stories from his book. How many times had the Evil Queen tricked people into believing she'd changed? That was probably exactly what she was doing now; pretending to like David so that he'd be blind to her real plan. Too bad she was going to fail. They were ready for her.

At least, he hoped they were ready. Looking at David now, Henry worried that maybe his mom was a little too convincing. And what was David doing back here this morning? Not that he didn't like seeing him, but he'd been there the night before. He didn't want his mom to become suspicious because David was around so much.

Henry had become so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when Regina set the plate of pancakes down in front of him.

"Henry, dear, are you alright?"

Regina noticed his reaction and looked down at him in concern before meeting David's eye. Perhaps Henry would have told him if something was wrong. But David shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have any more of an idea than she did.

"Fine," Henry mumbled, picking up his fork. "Thanks for the pancakes."

David moved to stand behind Regina, placing a hand on the small of her back in silent support. "Hey, Henry, how about – if it's okay with your mom – later today we can grab that milkshake you wanted the other night. Maybe go to the park after?"

Henry bounced up on the edge of his chair. "Can we, mom? Pleaaaase?"

Partly because of her good mood, partly because she loved hearing Henry call her mom again, and partly because she wanted to spend more time with David, Regina smiled down at him, nodding. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Henry nearly dropped his fork. "Really?" He looked at her incredulously. The last thing he'd expected was for her to say yes.

"Of course. How about we go for lunch?"

Henry studied his mom carefully. This didn't sound like her at all. He couldn't remember the last time she'd taken him to Granny's without him begging. Then again, he hadn't asked in a while. He hadn't been particularly eager lately to spend extra time with his mom. But she was offering now, and the way she was smiling at him, he could almost forget about the book and the fact that he was supposed to hate her. For the first time in a long time, Henry gave her a genuine smile. "Awesome! Thanks, mom!"

David didn't miss Regina's eyes begin to tear as she turned away from her son, still smiling. It was amazing how Henry had changed her and could manage to bring out the best, most human parts of her with a simple thank you.

As Henry dug into his pancakes, David used his current distraction to sidle up to Regina. Henry had his back to them, so David was able to slide his arm around Regina's waist, lightly pulling her into him as he gave her a kiss to the side of her head. She turned in his arms and leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his torso.

"Thank you," she whispered, and then pulled away.

It was just in time, as Henry turned to look at them with his mouth full of pancakes. "Hey, mom? How come you're still in your pajamas? You're usually dressed when I wake up."

Regina picked up her mug of coffee and leaned against the counter. "Well, it's Saturday, and for some reason, I just didn't feel like getting dressed." She could see David smirking from the corner of her eye and she did her best to ignore him. Henry would notice if she brought attention to it. Instead, she smiled lightly. "I guess it just felt like a lazy day. And don't talk with your mouth full."

Henry took the last bite of his pancakes and swallowed them almost whole. "Mom, are you okay?" Her playful tone was not something he was accustomed to.

She nodded, puzzled by his question. "Of course, Henry. Why would you think otherwise?"

"I don't know. You're just acting really…weird."

Regina moved to the table to pick up Henry's plate. As she reached for it, she bent to kiss Henry's forehead and he was still so focused on how oddly she was acting that he forgot to pull away from it.

She walked the plate to the sink. "Today is just a wonderful day."

Henry looked back at David, looking for some kind of sign that he wasn't the only one noticing how different his mom was being, but David was smiling at Regina. If Henry didn't know any better, he'd say David wasn't pretending right now.

"Can I be excused?" Henry asked, suddenly feeling like he was interrupting something.

"Yes. Did you get all of your homework done last night at Annie's?"

Henry nodded. "Almost all of it. I promise I'll have it finished before we go to lunch."

Regina smiled. "Alright."

She waited patiently for the sound of Henry's door shutting before looking over at David with a huge grin.

"What?" he asked, wondering what had caused the laughter she was obviously trying to hold back.

Unable to contain herself any longer, her laughter filled the room and David was so distracted by how beautiful a sound it was that he almost missed what she said.

Pointing at his chest, she laughed, "Your shirt is inside out."

David looked down and, sure enough, he could see the seams around his collar. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, sliding it over his head and flipping it right side out again.

"Well, I wasn't exactly focused on your shirt this morning." She smirked at him.

David shook his head and pulled his shirt the rest of the way down. "We're lucky that Henry didn't notice."

Nodding, Regina rested her lips against the edge of her coffee cup thoughtfully before taking a long sip.

"I guess I should go," David said finally. "I should take a shower and change my clothes."

"I suppose you should. Unless you want people in Granny's to see you in yesterday's outfit."

"Somehow, I don't think that would be a good idea," David smiled. He walked over to her and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "But I'll see you soon."

She closed her eyes and smiled until he pulled back.

"Want me to pick you and Henry up here, or do you want to meet at Granny's?"

"Why don't you come get us?" Regina smiled. "I think Henry would like it better that way."

"Alright, well…I'll see you soon." He gave her arm a gentle squeeze and then was gone, leaving a smiling Regina in his wake.

* * *

Where had the time gone? That was something David found himself wondering, not for the first in the last few weeks. It had been a little over a month now. A month of happiness. He and Regina had been spending as much time together as possible. David enjoyed her company more than he ever thought possible. Dinners, lunches, the occasional evening here and there when they could find someone to watch Henry without getting too nosy. It wasn't that their relationship was a secret – they just didn't enjoy feeding the fire that was the gossip of Storybrooke.

Henry was another story, however, and a confusing element to the whole situation. Regina thought he didn't know about the two of them dating. She thought he might be suspicious about all the time they'd been spending together. She was trying to decide if, when, and how she should break the news to him, before he heard it from someone else.

David, on the other hand, knew that Henry knew they were in a relationship; that it had actually been _his _idea. He was afraid Henry was suspicious for an entirely different reason. He'd started to look at David with confusion, and most recently, a fair amount of distrust. It hurt, but David knew that he was breaking Henry's trust. He'd agreed to going out with Regina to gain information, but he hadn't exactly been holding up his end of the deal.

David should have been surprised that there hadn't been a problem sooner, but he supposed he'd been trying to maintain a blissful ignorance.

Shutting the door firmly behind him, David heard Regina call out to him as he was hanging up his coat.

"David?"

"It's me," he called back. "Where are you?"

"In the kitchen."

He smiled when he paused in the doorway to see her pulling something out of the oven. It was amazing how beautifully domestic she looked. No traces of the Evil Queen in this moment, just a beautiful woman cooking dinner for her son and boyfriend. Most importantly, she looked happy.

"Hey," she said, looking up at him. She set the tray on the counter and walked over to him, standing on her toes to kiss him.

"Hey," he returned. "Smells delicious."

Regina's smile slipped slightly as she watched him. "Henry wanted to speak with you before dinner."

"Should I be worried?" He wanted to be joking, but with the expression on Regina's face, it came out a serious question.

"I don't know. He seemed upset." She looked up at him fearfully. "Do you think it's about us seeing each other? I should have talked to him sooner."

"It's okay." He put a hand on her shoulder and ran it down her arm soothingly.

Henry's bedroom door was shut, so David knocked gently. "It's me, Henry. Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

David frowned at the boy's tone. He sounded unhappy, and when he opened the door, he found Henry wearing an expression to match.

"You wanted to talk to me?" He closed the door quietly and leaned against it, trying to prepare himself for what was coming.

"What are you doing with my mom?"

Straight to the point, no time to think about answers. Not that David had any anyway.

"What do you mean, Henry?" He cringed at his weak response. He knew what Henry meant and so did Henry. He was stalling and his grandson could see straight through it.

"You were supposed to be finding a way to break the curse. You were supposed to help, Emma. Why did you stop?"

"Henry, I—"

"I see how you act with my mom – you like her now. You gave up on the plan."

"It's complicated." Man, he was on a roll with the clichés and ridiculous responses today. Henry deserved better. "Your mom is not who she was in the Enchanted Forest. I still want to help Emma and break the curse, but I don't want to hurt your mom."

Henry's features strained as he tried to keep from yelling. "If you want to help Emma, then you have to stick to the plan!"

David sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He tried to think of what to say. He couldn't suggest another way to find breaking the curse, because he didn't have one. How had he gotten himself into this mess? He shouldn't have to be worrying about whether or not what he was doing would hurt Regina.

"Do you love her?" It was a sudden question, hurried and fearful. Watching his grandfather's facial expressions, it suddenly dawned on Henry why David might not be willing to break the curse anymore. He'd thought it was because David had become a friend to her. Because he was the good prince and he didn't want to see anyone hurt. When he'd come up with the idea for David to date his mom, he hadn't even thought that David might actually start to love her. He was gripped with the paralyzing fear that he might once again be left alone to help Emma – that he may have lost his only ally.

'_Do you love her?'_ Did he love her? Did he?

The question pounded inside David's head. He'd certainly grown closer to her. He hadn't given himself time to analyze his feelings because he'd been afraid to.

But now, there was no avoiding what he was feeling. Was it possible after only a few months? Could such a short time of seeing another side to the Evil Queen erase the years of pain and hatred? No, but…he recognized the feeling that was now throbbing painfully in his heart, twisting his stomach, and it was, in fact, love.

"You do," Henry whispered, seeing it written all over his face before David could vocalize an answer.

Without a chance to speak, David watched Henry jump up from where he was sitting on the bed. The sight of Henry's tears made David step away from the door as the boy pushed past him. He was running toward the stairs before he managed to gather enough thought to go after his grandson.

"Henry, wait!"

"No!"

Even though David was much faster, Henry had a head start and was determined to get away. He was already at the bottom of the stairs by the time David could come down halfway.

Regina, hearing the yelling, appeared in the doorway. "What's going on?"

"Henry," David tried again, "let me ex—"

"No!" Henry was full-on crying now, but it did nothing to hide the expression of anger and betrayal on his face. "You're Prince Charming and she's the Evil Queen. You're not supposed to fall in love with her! You're supposed to help me! You're supposed to find a way to break the curse! Now I'm all alone again and I have to do it by myself!"

"Henry—" both Regina and David tried to calm him down, but he shrugged out of his mom's reach and glared up at David, who'd moved down another step.

"She's _evil_. How could you fall in love with her? What about Snow White? What about Emma? What about the curse?"

David couldn't help when his eyes flickered to Regina at the harsh words; she looked as if she'd been slapped.

"You're not even trying!" Henry accused him. "You can't love her!"

"Henry, it's not that simple." David's tone was caught somewhere between gentle and stern. He wasn't sure what to do. He was aching, knowing how much pain he'd caused his grandson, but at the same time, he couldn't change the way he felt. He also didn't have much he could say with Regina in the room; Henry had probably already said too much.

"I wish people would stop treating me like I don't understand anything!" Henry angrily swiped at his tears with his sleeve. "And I wish people would stop treating me like I'm crazy!" He turned and strode to the door.

"Henry!" Regina cried desperately, "where are you going?"

"To be with my _real _mom. She believes me. She's _good_. And she's _trying_ to help me break the curse!" He looked shocked at himself for telling his mom that much, but it quickly morphed back into anger. "Don't follow me. Both of you just leave me alone!"

The only sound after that was the sound of the front door slamming shut behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Well my 1 1/2 year old computer is putting up a good fight. Only google chrome can crack me up when my computer is crashing. 'She's dead, Jim.' hahaha. Get's me every time, damn it! I don't want to laugh when my computer is dying. **

**Anyway, new chapter. I'm so excited about all of the new stories that have been put up recently and can't wait to start reading all of them. This world could use a little more EC! :) (And I'm way, WAY behind on my reading).**

Regina returned from the kitchen to find David sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "I called Emma. Henry's safe. I told her to keep him overnight. It'll give him a chance to cool off."

"Good," David nodded. "I'm glad he's okay."

"This also gives us the opportunity to talk." She leaned against the arm of the opposite couch. "What happened?"

This was the moment. Henry had let a lot slip, but nothing that directly gave away that David had his memories. There was still a chance to salvage the situation. David stiffened when he saw the intensity of Regina's gaze. She was definitely suspicious.

"He knows that we've been seeing each other and he's angry."

"I gathered that much," Regina remarked darkly. "Because he thinks you're Prince Charming and I'm the Evil Queen." He didn't miss the flash of hurt before she continued on. "But he was talking about you helping him break the curse. To what was he referring?"

Her eyes searched his and he found himself using all of his energy to hide the fact that he was unnerved by her scrutiny. The Evil Queen was notorious for seeing straight through to a person's fear, and then turning it against them. He knew one wrong word, expression; the _smallest_ slip would give him away. The he remembered at all was a miracle, but one he had no doubt Regina would figure out if she was given any clues; and she wouldn't see it for the gift that he did. If the past was any indication, she'd kill him to keep him from ending the curse.

That was something he was starting to question, however. This wasn't the same woman who had done all of those terrible things; not anymore. And now there was something between them, and it wasn't one sided. Still, there was no telling how she would react to knowing he had been deceiving her, and whatever she did, it wouldn't be good.

"You know how wrapped up in that book Henry is, Regina. He wanted me to help him find a way to break the curse."

"And were you? Helping him?"

He wasn't sure what to say in answer to that. Did she mean was David being a friend to Henry and going along with his fairytale fantasy, or was she asking if Prince Charming was scheming with him to bring down the curse and the Evil Queen once and for all?

"I didn't want to hurt his feelings…" It was the best he could do. It sounded weak, and he hated himself for making it sound like Henry was just a child who didn't know any better, but he also had to protect him.

David was surprised to see the tiniest hint of disappointment cross Regina's face before she pulled it straight and looked at him with anger in her eyes. "So the whole time you were comforting me and telling me that my son would eventually come around, you were going behind my back and furthering his delusions that I was the Evil Queen?"

It was a reaction from her that he hadn't anticipated, though he should have.

"How could you, David?" she cried, voice raising an octave as she grew more and more upset. "You know how firmly he believes the stories he reads in those books; how he thinks they're all true. My son thinks I'm a monster, an evil witch; heartless and cruel." She lowered herself down onto the couch, seeming to collapse in on herself as she dwelled on these thoughts. "I just wanted to be a good mother. A fresh start with someone I could love and who could love me back," she whispered.

David wasn't sure that she realized she'd said it aloud, but as she began to cry quietly, he found he couldn't just sit there and watch her fall apart. Standing, he crossed to her slowly, not wanting to frighten her. She jumped anyway when she felt him settle down next to her.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling her against him. She resisted at first, but the comfort felt so good that she couldn't help leaning into it in the end. "I'm so sorry, Regina." He surprised himself when he felt that he meant it. He was sorry for having gone along with this plan of Henry's; for putting himself in a position where he had hurt her. In the beginning, it hadn't mattered, but now he'd been allowed a glimpse of just how vulnerable she truly was. She was supposed to have been pretending, too.

Ducking his head, he kissed the top of her head and she closed her eyes, resting against him more heavily. "How did we get here?" she asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how did we end up where we are now? I didn't think that I would fall in love with you." She blinked and lifted her head, looking up at him in shock. She hadn't meant to say the words out loud.

David looked equally surprised and she didn't miss how his arms loosened slightly around her. "You're in love with me?"

She missed his tight embrace and with the way his arms had fallen, she immediately tensed. She pulled herself the rest of the way out of his arms and stood quickly, putting some distance between the two of them. She cursed inwardly at her slip. How could she have admitted her feelings that way; especially after today and what had happened with Henry? "That's not what I meant to say," she told him sharply.

He stood to look down at her. "Maybe not, but that doesn't change the fact that you said it."

She took a step back, feeling extremely vulnerable and cornered.

Seeing this, David stayed where he was, allowing her her space. He softened his voice, "Did you mean it?"

"I don't know." She looked up and met his eyes; eyes that were full of hope, love, confusion. "Yes," she amended in a whisper.

Two large strides and he had her wrapped up in his arms, holding her closely. "I'm in love with you, too," he whispered into her ear. That was all it took for her to lean back into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"What are we going to do? Henry won't be happy about this. I don't know if I can stand him being this angry with me. What do I tell him? How do I explain it so that he doesn't hate me?"

"You don't have to. When he's calmed down a little, how about I talk to him? I might be able to get him to come around."

Regina nodded slowly into his chest. "But what if he doesn't?"

"Then we'll worry about it then. Let's think about all of that later. It's been a long day for both of us. How about right now, we go into the kitchen and enjoy that wonderful dinner you cooked for us?"

She sighed heavily. "Okay."

* * *

Henry's outburst should have been just the wake-up call David needed to realize how terribly off track he'd allowed himself to become. He was no longer focused on finding ways around the curse. He'd still been using all of his free time to learn as much about Regina as he could, but the motives had become purely selfish rather than strategic.

But somehow it had had the opposite effect. Seeing Henry tear down Regina that way, he'd felt the desire to defend her, to protect her. Of course, he couldn't have defended her without alerting Regina to his knowledge of the entire situation, but he'd stayed to comfort her and try to fix what Henry had done.

That's how he'd ended up sleeping in Regina's bed again tonight. He'd been spending many nights with her recently, but tonight was different. Tonight, he'd been shocked out of his illusion of everything. He'd managed to bury the knowledge of who Regina was and what they were doing. They'd both been playing happy couple and pretending to the point that they both believed the lie themselves. Now they both knew that it wasn't their feelings that were the lie; it was the ease of their relationship.

Tonight was different. Reality had come crashing back down around them, memories of their old lives fresh in both their minds.

Regina was curled against him in her silk pajama set, having drifted off quickly – or so he'd thought.

"David?"

He looked down to see her watching him. "Hmm?"

"Do you know what's in the book?"

After a moment of debating his answer, he nodded. "Henry showed it to me. I've read it." And it wasn't a lie; he'd read all of the stories, comparing them to his knowledge of the actual events.

"You don't think I'm like the Evil Queen, do you?"

He studied her fearful expression and lifted a hand to trace her hairline with his fingers. She closed her eyes at the gentle contact and he saw how relaxed and loving her expression became. "No, I don't."

She shifted up in the bed so that she could rest her head on his shoulder in the crook of his neck. "I don't think the book has her whole story," she said softly.

"Oh?" The last thing he'd expected was for Regina to bring up the book. But he wanted to hear what she was thinking about, and he was curious to hear about the woman behind the Evil Queen.

"I know that she did a lot of terrible things, but she seems sad."

David nodded carefully. "I think so, too."

"And I don't think she wanted to be evil. I think something happened to her, and she lost her way because of it."

"What do you think happened to her?"

"I think she lost someone; someone she loved. Maybe she used to be a good person, but the pain was just too much and eventually the darkness took over. There were probably people who taught her that magic and power could fill the parts of her that felt hollow and she was foolish enough to believe them." David felt a tear fall onto his neck, but Regina hadn't seemed to notice she'd started to cry; she was too caught up in her own story. Most likely reliving the memories, David thought, and subtly pulled her more tightly to him. This was her story, and he was going to let her tell it. He had a feeling that they were things she wanted and needed to say, even if she thought the person listening didn't know what they were hearing.

"Magic seems like it could be an addiction; just as powerful as a dangerous drug, maybe even more so. Once you start, it gets inside of you, and no matter how hard you try to fight it, it's always there, waiting to pull you back."

"Do you think she was ever able to overcome it?"

Regina nodded. "I think that's why she cast the curse in the end. Magic would be gone and she could start all over again. It wasn't just revenge on her enemies; it was a fresh start. Hope for a better life."

"So what do you think happens?" David asked, rubbing soothing circles on her back. "The last few pages are missing. Do you think the queen got her fresh start?"

Regina allowed her eyes to close as she nodded slightly. "I hope so."

"I never would have thought of it that way," David told her. "The happy ending being that the curse was cast and the queen had a chance to start over. I like it – it gives the ending hope."

"Mmhm," she mumbled sleepily.

He wanted to know more of her story; who had been the ones to push her into magic, who she'd lost, when she'd decided she wanted to wipe the slate clean and start again? Of course, he would never be able to ask these questions. If the curse didn't break, he'd never be able to ask her, and if it did, she would never tell him anyway. She had only said as much as she had because she thought he didn't understand that it was true and real.

Regina's breathing evened out as she fell completely to sleep, but David didn't stop the circles for a while longer, watching her and thinking. He couldn't see her with her head tucked into him, but by this point, he'd memorized how she looked in sleep, her features relaxed into a peaceful expression.

Now he just had to figure out what he was going to say to Henry.


	12. Chapter 12

**The next few chapters should be more on the happy side, so you can look forward to that, at least. I've had a phenomenally bad week, so I've been writing up a storm and there will be more to come on all three of my stories soon. I would love reviews! **

David tapped his fingers nervously on the bar he was leaning against outside the school. Regina had decided it was best to talk to Henry sooner rather than later and had sent David to pick him up when the school day ended. It was true that Henry had had less than 24 hours away from them, but Regina was already getting antsy about having Henry in Emma's care. As angry as he had been and as much as his words had hurt, she still didn't like the idea of him spending any more time with his biological mother than he had to. It was bad enough that he was constantly sneaking out to meet her.

David had no idea what he was going to say to Henry. The only thing he did know was that this wasn't going to go well. If Henry was angry with Regina, he was positively furious with David. David had been the one that was supposed to be on his side from the beginning, and with the influence of the curse removed, he most certainly was not meant to be enjoying time spent with the Evil Queen. There was much more reason for Henry to be angry with David.

And that was the reason David was here. He knew that with him being the only one knowing the true reason behind Henry's outburst, he had to be the one to talk to him.

What was he going to do? How could he explain to Henry that he'd started to fall for the one woman he wasn't supposed to when he'd only just begun to grasp the idea himself? He needed some way to show Henry that the Evil Queen wasn't the only side of Regina; there was so much more. A part of him was still worried what would happen to her when the curse was broken. Would she revert to her old self; terrorizing the people of the town and trying to kill him? He didn't think so, but then, he didn't think he would ever find himself in a relationship with her, either, and look where that had ended up.

He looked up when a shrill bell sounded, ending the school day and releasing hundreds of kids from inside. They poured out excitedly, all running to meet parents, join friends, go play in the park. It didn't take long for him to spot Henry. He was alone; the only child not laughing or smiling. He had his head down and was walking slowly, kicking debris on the ground as he went.

David waited until Henry was close before calling his name.

Henry's head snapped up and he immediately met his gaze. He stopped walking and stood up a little straighter, the only thing giving away his nervousness being the way he tugged on the straps of his backpack. "What are you doing here?"

David pushed off the bar but didn't move any closer to Henry. He didn't want him to feel like he was trapping him.

"I was hoping we could talk?" He tilted his head at his grandson in question.

There was a moment where David didn't think Henry was going to answer, but he finally nodded. "Fine."

"Alright. Come on." Henry allowed David to place a hand on his shoulder and guide him away from the school.

They walked for a few minutes in silence until they finally came to a bench away from everyone else; a place they could have a relatively private conversation.

David sat on one side and Henry lowered himself slowly to sit hesitantly on the other side.

"Listen," David finally started. "I know that you feel betrayed. I know that you're angry with me."

"You're helping my mom! You're helping the Evil Queen!" Henry burst. He looked up at David angrily for a split second before looking back down at the ground.

"No," David told him. "I'm not helping her do anything."

"But you're not helping me break the curse anymore. That's helping her."

"Buddy, I-"

"No! You were supposed to be getting information from her; ideas on ways to convince Emma that the curse was real so that she could break it. You were supposed to be pretending to like her. But now, you're protecting her. You..." He stumbled over his words and paused for a moment. David could tell that he really didn't want to say it aloud, and that he was afraid of what it meant.

"You love her."

"I...Henry, I...it's complicated."

"I just don't get it," Henry breathed. He twisted his hands together in his lap and his brows knitted together in troubled thought.

David was about to try and explain everything, but he didn't get the chance. Henry spoke first.

"I get it. I understand now."

"You do?" David was surprised by the sudden calm that had replaced the anger in Henry's words. When he looked up, rather than the look of betrayal that had been on his face before, there was a look of sympathy.

"My mom cast some kind of spell on you. She had to have. She did something to you to make you think that you loved her."

"Henry…" David sighed heavily. "You know that's not true. There's no magic here."

"She must have kept some somehow." Henry suddenly looked brighter at the prospect that David's behavior could all be explained away. "She did this to you, I know it. We should look in her vault – maybe there's something in there. We can figure out how to free you from her spell, and then you can start helping me again."

David shook his head. "I'm not under any spell. I still want to help Emma break the curse, and I'll do my best to help you, but I'm not going to use Regina to do it. We'll find some other way. Your mom is not the villain you think she is." He held his hand up when Henry opened his mouth to interrupt. "She _was_, back in the Enchanted Forest. Believe me, I know better than most the evil she was capable of back in our homeland. But that's not who she is here. She's a woman who wanted a chance to start fresh, the mayor of a small town, and most importantly, she's your mother. You can't keep treating her like the Evil Queen; it hurts her."

"That's the spell talking," Henry said exasperatedly. "She's tricking you into thinking that she's changed, but she really hasn't. Once we break it, you'll remember the truth again."

"It's killing her to think that her only child hates her. I know that's not true, Henry. I understand that you're just trying to protect yourself from getting hurt, but I can promise you that your mom really does love you. Can you work on being a little more cautious of her feelings and what you say to her?"

"She's just acting like it hurts her so that you'll feel sorry for her. She's the Evil Queen; nothing hurts her. You—"

"Stop!"

Henry jumped a little, not having expected David to yell at him.

"I'm sorry, I just hate to hear you saying things like that. Whether or not I'm under a spell, you talking like that about your mom absolutely hurts her. You can say that she's faking it, but I've seen her when she thinks no one is looking, and Henry, what I see is a broken woman who can't take much more. If it makes you happy, you can think that I'm under some kind of spell, but can you please just promise me one thing?"

Henry narrowed his eyes at David, not sure he wanted to agree to something before he knew what it was. But David was still someone he trusted, even if he was being tricked by his mom. Finally, he nodded.

"Next time you talk to your mom, forget for a minute that she was ever the Evil Queen, that there's a curse or a town full of fairy tale characters, or that you ever found the book that led you to discovering all of it. Just see your mom; the woman who raised you your entire life. Look at her; really look at her. Then tell me if she's just pretending. Can you do that? Please?"

Henry scowled slightly. "Fine. But it's not going to change anything."

"As long as you try, that's all that I'm asking."

"Alright." Henry stood and straightened his backpack. "Can we go home now? I'm kind of hungry."

Shaking his head and chuckling, David started for the truck, Henry close on his heels. "You're always hungry."

* * *

When Regina heard the sound of the front door opening, she moved to the foyer to see Henry bouncing in after David.

"Why don't you go put all of your homework upstairs and then come down and we can all have an after school snack?" he suggested, to which Henry grinned and kicked his shoes off, bounding up the stairs.

"It went well, I take it?" Regina asked, moving closer to David.

"Ahhh, not exactly," David said, scrubbing a hand across his jaw uncomfortably.

"What do you mean? He's back here, he seems happy. What part of it didn't go well?"

David grimaced, wishing he had something better to tell her. "He thinks you have me under some kind of spell."

Regina looked down, tears pricking her eyes, and nodded briskly. "I see."

Not sure what to say, but wanting to lighten the mood, he added. "Well, if you think about it, he's not entirely wrong."

Regina's head snapped up. "What?!"

He smiled at her disarmingly and moved so that he could cup her face in his hands. "You do have me under a spell, and I have to say – I'm quite enjoying it."

Understanding now what he'd meant, she leaned her face into his hands and closed her eyes, a smile ghosting her lips. "Me, too."

He leaned down then and kissed her, moving his hands around to thread his fingers into her hair as he brought her closer to him.

Henry chose that moment to come down the stairs and he glanced at them and frowned. "Ewww. I get it – you're dating now, but do you have to kiss in front of me?"

David broke away from Regina, who was smiling, and playfully pushed Henry toward the kitchen. "We weren't kissing in front of you. You're the one who walked in."

"It's not my fault. I told you, I'm hungry!"

Regina chuckled as she followed behind the bickering pair. Her smile widened when David turned around to wink at her. Henry may not be on board with their relationship, but she knew that as long as David was around, everything would be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

**Alright, alright, I'm back. :) I've had a few new ideas for this story, so I'll be tweaking what I've been working on just a tad. **

Henry sat in the kitchen, watching his mom and David move around each other as they pulled things from cupboards and set food on plates. He had to admit that the way they smiled at each other and stepped around each other seamlessly didn't seem like anything a spell could create, but what reason would his mom have to develop real feelings for his grandfather?

He looked away quickly when his mom glanced up at him; he'd promised David to try and see his mom in a different light, but he wasn't eager to follow through. He knew he was probably only buying himself a few short minutes, but he was desperate. For almost a year now, he'd felt betrayed. The woman who'd raised him had lied to him his entire life, and not only had she lied, she was responsible for all of the terrible things that had happened to everyone he'd grown up with. The town was his family, and now that he knew the truth about what she'd done to them, he didn't believe he could trust anything she said or did.

He spent the next several minutes just watching as the two compiled all the snacks; it seemed like they were going all out. They laughed as they showed different items to each other and Regina tossed an oatmeal cream pie at him when he pressed his cold hand to her face after digging around in the freezer for an ice cream sandwich.

Henry wasn't sure what to think. He'd very rarely seen his mom this relaxed, and she'd only turned after-school snack time into a meal of junk food on very special occasions. She'd certainly never joked around like this with anyone aside from himself, and it was strange to see it from an outside perspective. Strange, but it also reminded him of how wonderful his mother could be when she was happy.

He blinked, realizing the connection he'd just made. His mom wasn't pretending to be happy, she actually was. Whatever David was doing was changing her. He turned his head back to the table and frowned down at the placemat. Instead of feeling excited about seeing how happy his mom was and how much fun she seemed to be having, he was now feeling conflicted. He wanted to break the curse, but now that he was seeing the side of his mom that he hadn't seen for the last year, he wanted her to stay that way. He didn't want to be the one to take that happiness from her. He wondered if this was how David had felt when he first started to like his mom. He'd said it was complicated, and that was about the best description that Henry could come up with for how he was currently feeling.

"Henry, honey?"

Henry jumped at the sound of his mother's voice, suddenly much closer than she'd been when he was last looking.

Not wanting to look at her just yet, he kept his eyes firmly on the placemat. He knew that when he looked up, he was going to have to keep his promise to David, and that was just going to make things even harder.

"Henry?" Her voice was filled with more concern now. He hadn't been overjoyed when he'd come home from school with David, but he'd seemed happy enough, and he certainly hadn't been despondent, as he now appeared to be. "What's the matter?"

Slowly, very slowly, Henry finally brought his eyes up to meet hers, finding her now knelt down right next to him. Her eyes were filled with love and worry, and mixed with her soft, gentle voice, it wasn't hard to forget about all of the fairytales he'd read in the last several months. This woman had no resemblance at all to the Evil Queen from the book. No, this was his mom.

He remembered her picking him up to set him on her lap while she read to him, rocking slowly in the chair that had been in his room when he was still very young. It was his favorite time of day back then. She'd change her voice to go along with the different characters in the stories, and she'd even let him turn the pages when it was time.

He remembered her tucking the blankets around him every night, knowing the perfect way to do it, and then sitting on the edge of the bed and singing to him until he fell asleep. It had been years since she'd done that, but he remembered that she'd only stopped when he claimed that he was too old for lullabies.

He remembered how, when he'd fallen during recess and scraped both his knees when he was six, he'd cried and asked for his mom, and when the school nurse had called, instead of telling him she'd see him at the end of the day, she'd left work and driven to the school. She'd come rushing into the nurse's office and picked him up, rocking him back and forth like she had when he was a baby, telling him that it would be alright. Only she had been able to get him to stop crying, and when he'd been embarrassed about it, she'd shushed him. She'd kissed both of his bandaged knees and told him that he was a very brave boy. He'd let the nurse put the bandages on him while he'd been all by himself. In fact, he'd been so brave that she thought she should take the rest of the day off work, and instead of staying at the school, they should go to Granny's for ice cream.

He remembered when he'd had his worst nightmares and run crying from his room to hers, rather than just telling him that there was no such thing and sending him back to bed, she'd open her covers for him to climb in next to her and told him that she'd never let any monsters hurt her baby boy. She'd kiss his forehead and stay awake with him, telling him stories about defeating the scary monsters until he fell asleep. He'd wake up the next morning with her arm wrapped around him protectively and know that he'd always be safe.

Whenever he'd felt sick, she'd tuck him onto the couch and watch cartoons with him all day, bringing him soup and glasses of juice whenever he wanted them, rubbing his back and brushing the hair out of his face gently. It was her touch that allowed him to fall asleep when he didn't feel well or was in pain.

Every birthday and Christmas had been full of the perfect presents, both ones he had asked for and ones he hadn't. Every good report card meant ice cream together at the diner, and every A on a test meant a new comic book.

The woman in front of him, regardless of who she'd been in another world, was his mom in this one. He'd somehow let himself forget all of those things when he'd found that book. He'd felt hurt to find out that she wasn't who she said she was, and that the reason he was the only child in town who ever grew older was because she'd cursed the town to remain at a standstill. She'd let him feel crazy, and it had hurt, but he realized now that the same woman who had loved him all of those years was the one that had been around since he'd found out the truth. It was _he _who had started to ignore _her_; to brush off her attempts to comfort him or even just to talk to him. She hadn't grown cold toward him, she'd just been trying to hide the pain that _he_ was causing every time he pulled out of her grasp or told her she wasn't his real mom.

Tears pooled in his eyes as he saw how concerned and how much like his _mom_ she looked right now, crouching in front of him and reaching to smooth back his hair when she saw the tears start.

"Baby?" she asked, fearfully now, because he still hadn't said anything. He'd been staring at her in silence for what felt like minutes, and now it seemed he might start to cry.

It was what sent him over the edge. She hadn't called him that for years, and he realized that his mom really did love him. It didn't matter that she'd been the one to cast the curse, or what she was doing with David. What mattered was that she loved him and that didn't change, even when he treated her horribly and told her that he wanted a new mom. Even when he went out and found that mom himself. He looked at who he now knew was his mom in all the ways that counted and called her by a name that he, too hadn't used in years.

"Mommy?"

Regina didn't even have time to process what he'd said before he launched off his chair and into her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She blinked, but then immediately returned the embrace, holding her son close, and basking in his sudden love. He hadn't allowed her to hold him like this in a long time, and she shut her eyes as she felt them burn with fresh tears.

"I'm sorry," Henry told her sincerely. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Me, too, Henry," she whispered to him, cradling him against her. "You know that I love you, right?"

He nodded. "I love you, too, mom." He finally pulled back and looked at her. "I shouldn't have said all of the things I did. I didn't mean them. I was just mad at you."

"I know, baby," she told him, brushing his hair back and using her thumbs to wipe away his tears. "And it's my fault." She was going to continue, but Henry shook his head vigorously.

"No it wasn't! I was mean to you, but you kept loving me." He almost sounded confused at how she could do that when he'd done what he did.

Regina gave him a small smile. "Of course I did. That's what mothers do." Henry noticed the sad look that crossed her face as she said that, but it was gone quickly and she pulled him back in for another hug. "I will never stop loving you."

"No matter what?" Henry asked quietly.

"No matter what," she assured him. "Now how about those snacks? I was thinking we might even watch a movie while we eat them. What do you think?"

Henry pulled back to look at her. "Even before I do my homework?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Yes!"

"Alright." Regina stood up. "Why don't you go pick out the movie and David and I will bring the snacks in in a minute."

"Okay." Henry started for the door, but stopped suddenly in front of David. Regina watched curiously as Henry wrapped his arms around David, giving him a quick hug. "You were right. And thank you for making my mom happy."

David smiled up at Regina as he returned the hug, and then patted Henry's back. "See you in a minute, buddy."

Once Henry was out of the room, Regina walked to David, crossing her arms as she smiled and leaned against the counter. "You were right?"

"I just gave him some advice earlier today, and it seems to have worked out pretty well."

"So you had something to do with this major turnaround in Henry's opinion of me?"

"No," David shook his head. "I told him how to look for what he always knew was there; he just needed a little help seeing it. His opinion of you is all his own. Though from what I just saw, I don't think mine is too different from his. I just also happen to love you madly."

Regina grinned, but then her face grew more serious as she looked him in the eye. "Thank you, David."

"For what?"

"For giving me back my son." She stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "And for making me happy."

"It's my pleasure," he told her, leaning down to kiss her softly. "And you're welcome."


	14. Chapter 14

**Short, but I didn't see another end to this chapter for quite a ways, and I didn't want to keep you waiting. Thanks to your-arms-around-me, Anny Rodrigues, Coccinelle Menthol and fifitrixiebelle for the reviews on the last chapter, and to all of you who followed and favorited. I'm going to go write chapter 15 now. And maybe 16.**

"Move in with us?"

David looked up from his bowl of cereal to where Regina was sitting across from him, arms crossed on the table and leaning forward. "What?" he quickly swallowed the bite he'd just taken, almost choking as he did. He set the spoon down and wiped his mouth with a napkin, clearing his throat so he could speak more clearly. "Did you just ask me to move in?"

In an uncharacteristically shy move, Regina glanced down at her lap, blushing slightly before meeting his eyes. "Yes."

"Does Henry know you're asking me?"

Regina could have been offended that his first response was to ask about Henry, but she knew that David was asking because of the fragile relationship she'd been rebuilding with her son over the past week and his consideration made her love him even more. Nodding, she smiled. "We talked about it last night. He likes the idea of having you around all the time. So do I."

"Really?" He smiled at the idea of living under the same roof as Henry and Regina. He smiled at the thought of them both wanting him to.

"Yes. He's still worried about my intentions toward you, but he doesn't think that any harm could come from you moving in. In fact," she chuckled, moving on quickly, "he said that it wouldn't really be any different from what it is now except that your belongings would be here with you."

David laughed. "Yes, I suppose it's true that I've been here a lot the last month or so." He reached out a hand to cover one of hers and gave it a small squeeze. "_I_ know what you're intentions toward me are, and that's what matters."

"You do?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, yes. I know you're deepest darkest secrets, Regina Mills." At her slightly nervous look, he added, "You plan to keep me all to yourself. If I move in, you don't have to worry about any of the other women in town stealing me away." It was times like these he forgot why light jokes like that could scare her – because between Prince Charming and the Evil Queen, telling her he knew her deepest darkest secrets would have been a threat. But he couldn't tell her that he already knew everything and he wouldn't threaten her; not ever again.

Relaxing, Regina laughed. "I didn't know that was something I needed to be concerned about. I'll consider myself warned. Anything else about me that I should know?"

"Well," he stood from the table so that he could move around and pull her to her feet. "You're a fantastic cook."

"Knew that one."

"You're gorgeous."

"Mmmhmm." She smiled up at him from where he had her wrapped in his arms.

"You're intelligent and funny."

"Keep going. I'm enjoying this."

"You're incredibly sensitive and full of love." He bent to kiss her when her smile tightened and tears pooled up in her eyes. "You're a fantastic mother," he added, kissing her again. "And I love you."

"That last one's about you," she whispered, shaking her head to try to ward off the tears.

"I felt like saying it anyway," he told her. "And the last thing I wanted to add to the list, I wasn't sure was true, because I haven't been able to test my theory."

"Oh, yes? And what's that?" She tried to keep her tone light, but her voice still wavered from emotion.

"That you're an incredible dancer."

With that, he loosened his grip on her enough so that he could slide his left hand from behind her and reach for her hand. As his other hand moved higher on her back, he drew their joined hands to rest on his chest and pulled her in closer.

"There's no music."

"Does there need to be?"

"No." She smiled and leaned fully against him, resting her head near their hands and swaying with him gently as he started to move. "Can I take this as a yes, then?" she asked hopefully without lifting her head.

"Yes. There's nothing I'd like better."

She closed her eyes as she smiled, rubbing her cheek on his chest to settle in more closely.

They moved slowly in place for several minutes until they were interrupted.

"What are you guys doing?"

The couple startled at the sound of the voice, but settled back against one another when they found a freshly woken Henry standing in the doorway rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Dancing," Regina told him, sighing contentedly.

"But there's no music."

Regina smiled when she heard David's laugh resonate in his chest and she lifted her head to look at him.

"Like mother, like son," he told her. They stopped moving and Regina just leaned against his side as they looked at Henry.

"It's seven in the morning. Why are you dancing?" He tried to stifle a yawn, but it escaped anyway.

"We were celebrating," David answered.

"What are you—" but that's as far as he got before his eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. "Did you ask him?" He looked at his mom before looking back at David. "Did you say yes? Are you going to live here? When are you moving in?"

David laughed. "Slow down, buddy. We've talked about the one question at a time thing before, remember? But yes, she asked me, and yes, I said yes. As for when…" he looked at Regina, who shrugged.

"As soon as we can get to Granny's to pick up your things, I suppose."

"Yes!" Henry jumped and clapped his hands in excitement." Can we go now? I can go get dressed. I'll eat breakfast when we get back."

"Oh, you will, will you?" Regina asked, smirking playfully at him. "And what about school, mister? If we do that, you'll be late for sure."

"Can't I just miss it? Just this once? Pleeaase?"

Regina walked around behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, lightly pushing him toward the table. "Not today." At Henry's loud and disappointed sigh, she added, "But don't worry. You're not going to be missing anything."

"She's right, kiddo. Your mom and I still have to go to work. In fact," he glanced at his watch, "if I don't get going soon, _I'm_ the one that's going to be late."

"How about," Regina proposed, sliding Henry's cereal toward him, "if it's alright with David, we'll go this afternoon? We can both leave work a little early, pick you up from school and go over to Granny's together?"

Henry looked eagerly at David, waiting for a response.

"That sounds like a great idea. It shouldn't take too long – I don't have a whole lot of stuff." He pulled the keys to his truck out of his pocket. "See you after school," he said, waving at Henry. He walked over and kissed Regina quickly. "And I'll call you later. Maybe we can grab lunch together."

"I'd like that."

Henry grinned as he poured the milk on his cereal. The idea of having David around all of the time made him giddy. Henry had never had a father-figure in his life, but he imagined that this would be what having a father was like. Though he knew David was actually his grandfather, he couldn't imagine someone more perfect. Besides, he wasn't really old enough to be a grandfather. This wasn't what he'd been expecting when he'd suggested David's relationship with his mom, but he was happy with the way it had turned out, anyway.

As quickly as the happiness had taken hold, however, it began to dissipate as he thought about that fact. This wasn't supposed to have happened. The curse was still in place, and it was still his job to convince Emma that it was real. Only now, on top of the difficulty of breaking the curse even though no one believed him, he was going to be ruining everything between his mom and David.

"What's the matter?"

Henry looked up, startled. He'd forgotten his mom was still in the room. "I was just thinking."

Regina took a seat in the chair next to him and faced him. "About what? You look upset."

"I am," he admitted.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Okay." She started to stand again, disappointed, but not wanting to push him.

"But I will anyway."

Settling back down into the chair, Regina remained silent, allowing her son to start the conversation.

Henry thought about it. He considered the risks of what he wanted to do, but he also thought about how much his mom had changed since she and David had been together. Looking into her concerned eyes and remembering how open and understanding she'd been in this same position last week, he decided to go for it. "Can we talk about the curse?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Again, I'm taking a few liberties with this one, but they are small(ish), and some of them may even make you happy. We're going to pretend that Regina begrudgingly let Kurt and Owen go, without harming either of them. We're also going to see Graham running around again, because, hey – it's fiction and I want to exercise my right to raise people from the dead…or just, you know…not kill them. For reasons.**

**Thanks to my reviewers: rebakathy, Miss Poisonous, PrincessofSea, Anny Rodrigues and fifitrixiebelle.**

"Can we talk about the curse?"

Henry watched his mother's reaction. She paled and grasped the edge of the table for support even though she was already sitting down.

"You mean you want to talk about your book?"

"No. I mean…yes, but I want to talk about the _actual_ curse."

"Henry—"

"No, mom. Please don't lie anymore. Please? I know that it's all true. Everyone else in town already thinks I'm crazy, so what harm would it do if you told me the truth? It's not like anyone would believe me, anyway. Please?"

Regina felt the devastation hit her like a wave. She'd denied all of it, yes – because she didn't want him to find out the truth about who she really was. She didn't want her baby boy to know that the same woman who tucked him in every night and called herself his mother was the same woman that had killed whole towns in her past life; men, women and children, all. She'd worked for twenty-eight years to put the violence behind her and to live the peaceful quiet life she'd always longed for. She knew that she could never make up for what she'd done, but she'd tried her best to make Storybrooke a pleasant place to live. Granted there were a few exceptions to that, but overall, she'd genuinely tried to put an end to her cruel ways. Henry had come along, and she'd loved him with her whole heart, finally able to forget about the Evil Queen and that horrible world.

Until the book, that was.

Regina didn't know where the book had even come from, but by the time she found out about it, it had been far too late. Henry had already completely immersed himself in the stories and the characters, and somehow, he'd decided that they were true. She didn't know if it was because of the eerily accurate picture representations of the fairy tale selves of Storybrooke residents – herself included – or because he was unhappy and she'd overlooked it somehow. Her greatest fear was that she'd failed her son and that he was so miserable with her that he'd _needed_ to believe the stories. He'd _needed_ her to be the Evil Queen so that he had a reason to escape her and to go off to find his 'real' mother. Or maybe it was both. Whatever it was, she knew one thing; Henry was right and he could never find out.

That's why she'd taken him to Archie. As the accused villain of the story – accurate, but painful nonetheless – there was nothing she herself could do to bring her son out of the book and back into her world. The world she'd created in the hope of a fresh start – the one she'd raised her son in. Archie had been the first person she'd thought of to help. Even after twenty eight years, she'd never allowed herself to become close with anyone, and she didn't know who else to turn to. Besides…Archie was a professional – sort of. If anyone knew how to convince Henry that the book wasn't real, it was him. It hadn't mattered that the stories were true. It had only mattered that she get her son back.

Never – _never –_ had she meant to hurt Henry or make him feel like he was crazy. That hadn't been her intention at all; in fact, she'd never realized from Henry's perspective what seeing the therapist would mean to him. And that's why she felt like such a failure in this very moment. She _should_ have realized what it would mean – what she was putting him through.

"Henry."

She'd been silent for so long that he wasn't sure what she was going to do, and when she suddenly said his name, he was worried that she was going to deny it again. If she didn't tell him, he could always tell her that David knew about the curse, too. But he wouldn't do that. There was too much at stake, and as much as he wanted to be honest with his mom, he knew that the curse still needed to be broken, and if it came down to it, David now may be the last chance he'd have of doing it.

All of these thoughts were rushing through his head, but then he saw the intensity of his mother's gaze. It wasn't the anger that he recognized from previous attempts at this topic of conversation – it was a deep sadness.

"What is it, mom?"

"I love you."

That was when he knew she was going to tell him the truth. She'd put everything she had into that statement so there would be no room for doubt that it was the absolute truth, and the only truth that mattered to her.

He swallowed heavily. "I love you too, mom." He moved his chair a little closer to hers. "It's okay."

She placed her hand against his cheek lovingly. "How did you get to be so smart?" she asked quietly, a sad smile gracing her features for a few short seconds.

"I got it from you."

Even in that terrible moment where her world might come crashing down at any second, the statement filled her with warmth, and she had the fleeting feeling that everything would be okay – because he was her son.

"What do you want to know?"

Henry blinked. For so long, he'd been angry with his mom for lying about it. He'd spent months trying to figure out a way to break the curse by gathering as much information as he could. But now, here she was telling him he could ask her anything he wanted, and he had no idea where to start. He'd been so convinced that she'd continue to keep her secrets that he'd never actually sat down to think about what he'd want to ask. He contemplated carefully, not sure how long she'd allow him to question her. There were so many things to choose from.

"Is it _all_ true?" he asked softly. "Everything they say in the book about the things you did?"

She closed her eyes, wishing she could be anywhere else but in that room, but she wasn't going to keep lying to him. It took great effort to open her eyes again to see how disappointed he looked when she nodded.

"But…but you haven't done anything…like that…since you've been here?"

"No, Henry. No. I promise you." She breathed a sigh of relief at being able to tell him a truth that wouldn't further his disappointment.

A question bubbled up in him that he couldn't push down any longer. One not entirely relevant to his line of questioning, but one that had been burning within him since he found the book, and if he really thought about it, maybe even before that, though than it had been much more innocent.

"Why did you adopt me?"

She knew there was more than one layer to that question. He was curious how she'd wound up wanting a son, and now with the curse, he wondered if he had been acquired because of Emma; because he was the biological child of the Savior – the woman who'd been destined to break the curse since before her birth.

Regina glanced up at the clock, seeing how late it had become. They'd run out of time if he was going to make it to class, but she needed to reassure him that his adoption had been only for love. There'd been no thoughts of magical lands, kings and queens, or of curses. There'd only been a woman ready to become a mother.

"It's a long story, but _this_," she told her son, "is the kind of reason to miss school. How about we finish this conversation in the living room so we'll be more comfortable?"

"You'll really let me miss school?" It had been several years since she'd let him miss school for any reason other than being sick.

"Well, I certainly think this is more important, don't you?"

He nodded.

"And we can stop by the school later to pick up your homework so you won't fall behind." She stood, and Henry followed behind her as she made her way to the living room, leaving his untouched bowl of cereal on the table.

Once they were settled comfortably next to one another on the couch, Regina started with a question. "In your book, do you remember how it shows the curse taking effect in the Enchanted Forest?"

Henry nodded. Though he'd continued to reread the story and study the pictures for clues he'd missed, he'd nearly memorized the entire thing. "It says that everyone was pulled from that land and brought to this one. The picture shows everything being covered by magic." He shivered slightly at the image of the person standing in the middle of the chaos; the Evil Queen – laughing maniacally with a look of pure joy and victory on her face.

The reaction didn't go unnoticed by Regina and she wanted to reach out to comfort him, but she didn't want to scare him further, so she simply continued talking. "It worked similarly here, only everything was in reverse. Instead of taking everything away, it was creating it. This whole town was only a forest before magic turned it into what it is now."

Scrunching his nose up in confusion, Henry looked up at her. "That's cool, mom, but I don't get what this has to do with why you adopted me."

She smiled at him. "I'm getting there, sweetheart. It's all part of the story."

He leaned back into the couch cushions. "Okay."

"There was a man and his son camping in the woods the night the curse took effect. They noticed the town, and the next morning – the first morning any of us had been in this world – they wandered into it."

"But I thought that the curse didn't let anyone in or out except for people from our world who weren't cursed, like Emma."

Regina did her best not to scowl at the mention of the blonde, not happy about the reminder that the woman had so easily crashed into her life by crossing the supposedly impenetrable barrier into her town and then stubbornly refusing to leave. "It's true," she said, swallowing past her distaste, "except that they were already within the town lines when the curse took hold."

"So there were two people from this world here? In Storybrooke?" Henry sounded amazed. "Are they still here?"

Regina shook her head. "No, they left after about a week."

Henry watched as she seemed to slip into the memory for a moment, and was surprised to see that she seemed sad about it. If anything, he'd expected that she'd be mad that strangers were in her town. "Mom?"

It wasn't a question so much as he was trying to bring her back to the conversation. She still hadn't answered his question, and he was even more curious now what this had to do with any of it.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Regina looked back at Henry. "Yes. Sorry, sweetheart."

"So what happened to them?"

"Well, at first, I was desperate for them to leave. The son – Owen – was very curious and wouldn't stop asking questions, and I was worried that he and his father might figure out that there was magic involved. The father was already suspicious, and I was still new to this world – not very good at convincing him that nothing was out of the ordinary. I was still behaving more like a queen than someone from this world."

Henry tilted his head, trying to imagine what his mom was like before she'd adapted to her new surroundings. It was weird to think of how different she would have been. "How did you convince them?"

"I tried to ignore them for a while, hoping they wouldn't notice anything was different about this town. I even asked for the repair on their vehicle to be sped up so that they could be out of our hair faster. But then, things started to change. I quickly realized that this world wasn't what I'd hoped it would be."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone was the same. Every single day, they did the same things, said the same things. Nothing ever changed. It was lonely. When I'd cursed them and frozen time, I'd unknowingly put events into a never-ending loop. Kurt and Owen became the only people who were different. I changed my mind about wanting them to leave, and instead invited them to dinner."

"But then how come they ended up leaving anyway? I mean…if you wanted them to stay?"

"I became attached to Owen rather quickly. He was a lot like you." She momentarily paused her story to run a gentle hand through his hair and smile warmly at him. "Curious, and asking lots of questions. But when I asked them to stay, I was too pushy. I scared them off. The father sensed something was up, and left town before I even had the chance to say goodbye."

"So you were alone again?" Henry looked down sadly. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to live for so many years without anyone else that remembered or did anything different.

"For many years, yes." She shook her head slightly to clear away the painful memories and sat up a little straighter. "But one of the things Owen asked me before they left was why I wasn't a mom. He told me he thought I'd be good at it. For several years, I thought about what he'd said, but I was too afraid to do anything about it. I was the Evil Queen – how could I be a mother to anyone? Finally, though – many years later – I knew that I couldn't be alone any longer, and I felt confident in my ability to care for another life."

"And that's when you adopted me?"

She smiled. "That's when I adopted you."

"Owen was right."

"About what, dear?"

The fact that she didn't know exactly what he was referring to upset him. As much as Regina had felt like a failure at a mother, Henry now felt the same failure as her son. He hadn't made it clear enough that he loved her. "You're a really great mom."

Regina couldn't stop herself from leaning forward and pulling him tightly against her, but Henry didn't mind at all. In fact, he scooted over so that he could sit on her lap and lean against her fully, letting her rub comforting circles on his back.

"I'm sorry that I made you feel like you weren't good enough."

"No," Regina told him firmly. "You don't have anything to apologize for. You're the perfect son, and I love you just the way you are. I'm the one that's sorry. I'm sorry that I let you feel like you were crazy, or that I adopted you for any reason other than that I truly wanted to be your mom."

"So you didn't know that Emma was the Savior?" The accusatory tone of Henry's voice was now long-gone, now only stemming from genuine curiosity.

"No, I had no idea about any of it."

"Do you think Mr. Gold knew? I mean, he was the one who got me for you, wasn't he?"

Regina tightened her hold on her son at the idea that Gold had used him in another manipulative tactic. "I don't know, Henry. I've tried to talk to him about it, but he's being very secretive."

Henry stiffened. "You mean, Mr. Gold remembers who he is, too?"

Regina ran her hand through his hair once more in an attempt to make him feel safer. "I'm not sure. Sometimes it seems like he does, but he hasn't come right out and said it." She cleared her throat nervously. "Why did you want to talk to me about all of this?"

"I don't know…" He sat up so that he could look at her when he spoke. "I guess I was just wondering…Mom – are you ever going to let the curse break?"

Regina's hands dropped to the couch as she looked back at him. Of course this would be a question he would ask – it had been his intent to break the curse from the start. That's why he'd gone to Boston for Emma. But it still caught her off guard.

"Aren't you happy?" she asked. "We have David now, and you and I are getting along, I haven't done anything wrong. Does the curse _need_ to break?"

She knew the moment that it left her mouth that it was a stupid question. Of course he needed the curse to break. She couldn't have sounded more selfish in that moment, but it was how she truly felt. If the curse broke, everything would change.

"I don't want you to lose David," Henry said, settling back against her. "But this is wrong."

Regina's hands slowly moved back around him and she cradled him as he sat there thinking.

"People should know who they really are," Henry told her. "They have a right to remember, too. They should be able to live their lives the same way we do. And things have already started to change since Emma got here – I don't think the curse could last forever anymore, anyway."

"Maybe you're right," Regina said, nodding. "But I'm not in any rush to see it broken. Would you hate me if we just left it for a little while?"

"No." It was whispered, and Regina almost didn't hear him say it. But his voice was a little louder when he said, "I want us to be happy."

"Me, too."

Regina had come to another crossroads. She'd allowed herself to love David rather than just using him as an instrument of pain toward Snow White, and now she was already in trouble because of it. The breaking of the curse seemed as if it had been passed to her, and she didn't know what to do. If she chose to follow through on it, she'd most likely lose everything. David would no doubt leave her, disgusted that he'd ever had any sort of relationship with the Evil Queen, and with him, she'd lose the parts of herself that he'd allowed her to regain – the parts of her that hadn't existed since a few years after Daniel's death.

And then there was Henry. As much as he loved her, she knew that he'd have no choice in what happened after everyone remembered who they were. He'd be taken from her, and losing her son would mean losing whatever amount of humanity she'd gained since coming to this world, and most likely, her sanity along with it.

But if she didn't, she would have disappointed her son once again; this time knowingly, and she didn't know if she could live with herself if she did that.


	16. Chapter 16

**School's back in session, which means YAY! More time to write. Work has slowed down and I finally feel like I can sit down to write and not feel guilty about neglecting something else. I'll update my other stories eventually, but this one's getting the attention for now. You're getting some fluffiness before things heat up a bit. Reviews would be awesome motivation to keep me going. :)**

Henry held his mom's hand contentedly as they walked toward Granny's Diner. Regina had proposed they pick up lunch and surprise David at the animal shelter since Henry was home from school for the day, and Henry had happily agreed that it was a great idea.

They crossed the street together and headed for the front door, but were stopped short by someone else approaching Granny's.

"Henry?"

They both turned to find Emma walking toward them, confusion clear in her expression.

"Isn't today a school day?"

Regina scowled. "I find it interesting that _you_ of all people are suddenly concerned about when Henry is supposed to be in school."

Emma raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth, but Henry looked up at Regina. "Mom," he said quietly. "Please, don't." He looked at Emma who was still poised to say something and said. "Don't fight. Mom let me stay home from school today."

"She did? You did?" Emma looked from Henry to Regina.

Nodding sharply, Regina grasped Henry's hand just a little tighter. "I did. I wanted to spend the day with him, and he is my son, after all." Her tone was hostile, but when she felt Henry squeeze her hand in return, she remembered his plea for her not to start anything. "We've been having a nice day so far, and if you don't mind, we're going to pick up some lunch." It was as close to pleasant as she was going to get, and Emma could see that the woman was clearly biting her tongue.

"Sure, go ahead. Don't let me stop you."

Regina turned around, Henry's hand still in hers, and Emma followed them into the diner with a quizzical expression. She waited behind them as Ruby wrote down their to-go order and didn't approach the counter herself until mother and son had walked off to a booth to wait for the food.

"What's with that?" Ruby asked her immediately, nodding in the direction they'd just gone.

"Thank you!" Emma whispered. "It's good to know that I'm not the only one who finds this completely bizarre. Since when does Regina-uptight-mayor-Mills let her son stay home from school?"

Ruby nodded along, but then shrugged her shoulders. "She has been loosening up since she and David started dating."

"Ugh." Emma took a seat on one of the stools and let her head fall onto the counter. "Don't remind me."

It was Ruby's turn to look confused. "I agree it's weird, but why does it bother you?" She gasped. "You don't like…_ like _him, do you?"

Emma bolted upright, face paling. "No. No, no, no. Ew, just…no." It was true that Emma didn't buy into the stories that David and Henry had tried time and time again to convince her were true, but even with the idea of the man being her father, the very idea of anything romantic between them made her feel ill. She wasn't going to tell Ruby any of that, of course. "Absolutely not_. _It's just that I don't know if I like the idea of the two of them together."

After Ruby recovered from Emma's surprising reaction, she leaned forward conspiratorially. "It's bizarre, isn't it? I mean, they're like total opposites. He's all nice and sweet and she's the scariest person in town. Well, except for maybe Gold."

Emma nodded, not really listening. "This has been the weirdest day," she said once Ruby had finished speaking. She folded her arms on the counter and sighed heavily.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I got to the office this morning, and Graham was acting really weird. He's been like that all day – not acting like himself at all. And then I came to pick up our lunch and saw Henry and Regina out for a stroll. And not that I don't want Henry to be happy, but since when does he like spending time with Regina?"

Ruby patted her friend's hand. "Sorry you're having a crappy day. Granny'll have your lunch out any minute and food always helps."

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "That much is true."

Right on cue, Granny appeared with a large paper bag full of hot food and handed it to Emma before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Say hey to Graham for me," Ruby told her, smiling.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, Ruby."

* * *

David looked up from his desk when he heard the front door open.

"Hey, David!" Henry said brightly, bouncing into the office first. "We brought lunch."

"Hey, Henry," David greeted with a little bit of confusion. Regina stepped through the door next, carrying the bag full of food.

"We thought we'd surprise you, or I would have called ahead to let you know we were coming," she said somewhat apologetically. "I hope this is alright."

"Are you kidding? This is great!" He stood quickly and walked over to pat Henry on the shoulder and give Regina a quick kiss. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you for another hour, and I definitely didn't think we'd have the pleasure of Henry joining us." He smiled down at the boy. "How'd you swing getting out of school?"

"Mom called them and excused me for the day."

"She did, did she?" The question was for Henry, but his gaze was on Regina, still smiling warmly at her.

"I thought it would be nice for us to spend the day together. Henry and I decided after you left that it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. We're still going to go by and pick up his homework at the end of the school day so that he doesn't fall behind, but we got to have a nice conversation this morning."

David pulled her against him once more, this time just hugging her to him. "That sounds great. I'm so glad you had a good morning."

"We really did, didn't we, Henry?" She smiled over at her son, where he'd knelt to pet the cat curled up behind David's desk.

"Yep." He smiled as he ran a hand over the cat's head. "Good, kitty." The cat purred loudly and Henry rubbed gently behind her ear, his smile widening as the cat turned her head into his hand.

"Why don't you boys get washed up and I'll set out the food?" Regina asked, reluctantly pulling out of David's warm embrace.

"Great! I'm starving! Let's go, Henry. We can play with all the animals after lunch, okay?"

"Really? Yeah, okay!"

"Good," David said, eyebrows raised. "Because I really am starving, and if you'd disagreed, I may have had to do this." Without any further warning, he scooped Henry up and put him over his shoulder.

Henry shrieked. "Not fair," he giggled out.

"Oh, I'd have to say it's pretty fair," David said, heading in the direction of the restroom. "If it weren't fair, I'd be doing this."

Henry shrieked again, twisting in laughter as David suddenly began to tickle him.

"Careful," Regina called out, but she knew that David had a tight hold on Henry and would never let anything hurt him; despite the fact that, from down the hallway, David's answer was, "Who us? We don't know the meaning of the word."

Regina smiled and shook her head as she started pulling the food out of the bag. Since waking up this morning, this day had been amazing. Sure it had been scary talking to Henry about the curse; terrifying, actually – but now that it was over, she and Henry were in a much better place. The man she loved had agreed to move in with them, and she couldn't wait. Not even Emma Swan's unwanted interruption had stuck with her today; she was too happy to dwell on such things.

Lunch passed pleasantly, after which Regina took Henry to pick up his homework while David finished up his work day. Mary Margaret was just as curious as everyone else about Henry's absence from school given that he wasn't actually sick, but Regina managed to make it through the entire interaction without her normal temper – completely due to a desperate Henry. He, too, wanted her good mood to last. Which wasn't hard when they met David at Granny's to pack up his things.

David hadn't lied when he said there wasn't much, so not even two hours later, all of his things were packed up and moved to Regina's. He was leaning against the counter with a glass of water, about to take a sip when Henry ran into the room.

"David! You have to come see my comic book collection."

"Whoa, buddy," David laughed. "Where's the fire? I just got here – there's plenty of time for me to see your collection."

"Please? Please, please, please?" Henry was bouncing on his toes, looking urgently at David, who finally understood that it wasn't really about the comic books. They were just an excuse for Henry to get him upstairs.

"Alright, alright," David agreed.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Here five minutes and already bending to the will of a ten year old? I had such high hopes for you, Mr. Nolan." She laughed when he leaned in to kiss her.

"I promise I won't be gone long. He's very persuasive, you know."

"Mmhm," she nodded. "If please does the trick, you're doomed when he moves on to the puppy dog eyes." She narrowed her eyes playfully at her son who only grinned. "At least let him finish his glass of water. He _did_ just finish moving in."

"Fine," Henry sighed, though he wasn't being serious. He allowed David two swallows before pulling out the aforementioned pout. "Can you come now?"

David set his glass on the counter and looked down at Henry. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. That's not fair." He moved behind Regina, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Regina, you have to help me out here."

"Uh-uh," she laughed. "You're going to have to learn to deal with this on your own. It's hard enough when it's directed at me. When it's for other people, I'll most likely buckle and help him get whatever he wants."

"Shhh," David said, leaning his head down to rest on her shoulder. "He'll hear you."

In response to their discussion, Henry raised his hands up and clasped them up under his chin, adding the pleading gesture to his already manipulatively adorable expression.

"Nope," Regina said. "Sorry, David, but he's won this round. You're going to have to finish the glass of water when you get back."

"But you're the one who—"

"I know…I just can't let this continue." She put her hands on either side of Henry's face and kissed his forehead. "Take him upstairs, darling. Just don't take too long – dinner will be ready soon."

"I won't, I promise," he told her. "Come on, David!" He didn't even check back to make sure David was following him before rushing up the stairs.

"Henry, _please_ be careful on the stairs," Regina called after him. "I don't know how many times I've told him that," she said, turning around to face David again.

"Well, maybe if you didn't bend to his will so easily," he said, turning her words back at her.

"Oh, ha, ha."

"I'd better get up there before he comes back down to see what's keeping me. I mean, we wouldn't want him to see us kissing. He might think it's gross."

"What?" Regina looked at him in confusion. "We're not—"

David cut her off when he moved a hand up to pull her into him for another kiss. With Henry out of the room, this one was filled with much more passion. He waited until they were both nearly out of breath before pulling back, gently sucking her bottom lip between his as he went. She pushed her head forward to maintain the contact as long as possible and whimpered slightly when it was gone. "_That_," she said breathlessly, "wasn't fair."

"Well, you and Henry have your ways, and I have mine. Not to worry – there's plenty more where that came from. I promise I'll spoil you."

She grinned. "And I will hold you to that."

"I love living with you."

"You haven't even been here a day, yet."

"I know, but I don't need to be to know that I love it." He smiled at her warmly and noticed that her expression was one of the gentlest he'd seen on her when Henry wasn't present. It was an expression he wanted to see more often and one he promised himself he would help bring out.

"David?!" Henry's voice filtered down the stairs easily, and both adults laughed at the impatience in it. "Aren't you coming?"

"Be right there," David called back. He looked at Regina, winking. "To be continued."

When he opened Henry's door, Henry sat down on his bed with a bounce. "Finally!" he said dramatically. "What took you so long?"

"I was talking to your mom." He shut the door behind him and walked over to sit on the bed as well.

"Well, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." He scooted himself to the head of the bed where he sat cross-legged by his pillow. "I didn't think I was _ever_ going to get you alone."

"Alright, Mr. Dramatic," David laughed. "Well you have me alone, now. So…what did you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about this morning."

"You mean your conversation with your mom?"

Henry nodded. "She told the truth."

David tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean, buddy? The truth about what?"

"About everything. I asked her to tell me the truth about the curse, and she did. She didn't lie this time!"

"Really?" He couldn't help the disbelief in his voice. "She told you about the curse?"

"She admitted that she was the Evil Queen, and that she put the curse on everyone. And she told me that there were people here when Storybrooke was first created that didn't belong, and that at first she wanted them to leave, but then she didn't because they were the only people here who didn't do the same thing every single day. She told me that one of them was a little boy and that he told her what a good mom she'd be, and that's why she started thinking about having kids. And that's why she adopted me. I asked her. She didn't even know that Emma was the Savior. She loves me and she didn't know that I had anything to do with the curse."

"That's great, Henry!" David had never doubted Regina's love for her son, but he knew that it had been a concern of Henry's since he found out the truth, and he was glad that Henry finally felt loved the way a child is supposed to. He still couldn't believe that Regina had decided to tell her son the truth.

"It was amazing, David!" Henry exclaimed. He smiled brightly at him. "You've really changed her."

"What do you mean?"

"She never would have told me the truth before you started dating her. She acts like she did when I was little again – she's happy more and she plays with me and makes jokes. She hasn't done that in a long time. I guess it was my fault she stopped doing that in the first place, but I really missed it."

"No, Henry," David said seriously. "It wasn't your fault. Your mom was just scared."

"Because of me. It's okay, David – I know. But I _had_ to find out the truth about everything. And that's kind of the problem…" he trailed off.

"What's the matter?"

"Well, the curse still has to break at some point, but now I kinda don't want it to. I mean…you and mom are so happy now. You are, aren't you?"

"I am," David told.

"And so is mom. She really, really loves you, and she's afraid of the curse breaking because she doesn't want to lose having a family. That's what she told me. She doesn't even really care about the curse anymore, except that she thinks it's the only thing keeping the three of us together. And I don't want to ruin that, either. I really like you living here with us, and I like how mom is now that you're here, but I still think that we have to break the curse. It's not fair to everyone else that they can't remember who they are."

"You're right about that. But I don't want to lose your mom, either." He put a hand up to rub it over his head a few times as he closed his eyes. "We really made a mess of this, didn't we?" he asked Henry.

"Yeah, but I'm glad we did."

"Me, too." He sat up straight again. "Alright, so what do you suggest?" The way Henry was looking at him made him think the boy had already been thinking about a solution to their newest problem, and he was right.

"I think you should tell mom the truth."

"You mean that I remember who I am?"

Henry nodded.

"I don't know about that. She'd be pretty upset."

"Yeah, but she's gonna find out anyway, eventually. When the curse breaks, Mary Margaret is gonna remember that you tried to convince her that the curse is real. Emma knows, too. Don't you think it would be better if you told her yourself?"

"You're probably right."

"And if you told her the truth, she'd know that you _really _love her. Not just her as the Mayor, but every part of her. Maybe she'd stop being afraid that you'd leave when the curse broke. Unless…" he looked up at David with concern. "You're not, right? You're not gonna leave when the curse breaks?"

"No." David sighed. "It's very complicated Henry, and I can't pretend that I know what will happen if the curse breaks, but I can definitely tell you that I want to stay with Regina. It's going to be extremely difficult once everyone remembers, though."

"I know." Henry ran his fingers lightly over his quilt, studying the pattern intently, trying to distract himself. "But you should tell her all of that. If she knows that we both love her no matter what, maybe she'll let the curse break. She said she would earlier, she just wanted to wait because of you."

"She said that?"

"Yeah."

David watched Henry distractedly tracing the lines; he could tell how nervous the boy was about all of this. This curse was an enormous responsibility that Henry wouldn't allow anyone else to worry about, and only once it was gone would Henry be allowed to live his life the way a child should. Except in this circumstance, there were so many strings attached, and David was worried about what would happen to all of them. He knew, however, that Henry was right. And he knew in his heart that breaking the curse was the only right thing to do. They'd deal with whatever they needed to afterward.

"Alright. I'll talk to her."

"How're you gonna tell her?" Henry asked curiously.

"I don't know, but I'll find a way. Just give me a few days, okay? I need to figure out the right way to do this."

"Okay." Henry let out a breath of relief, and seemed to relax.

"Just know that things might get a little messy for a while," David told him, not wanting him to be unprepared. "She's not going to be happy that I lied. Things might change anyway."

"I know. I just think it would be better if you told her."

"Okay." David finally stood from the bed and walked to the door. "You know," he said, looking back. "You're a very smart kid, Henry."

Henry blushed.

"I'm proud that you're my family, and I'm so proud of you for dealing with this curse."

"You're helping," Henry said sheepishly.

"Still." David smiled at him warmly. "This will all be over, soon enough." He pulled the door shut and leaned against it for a moment. How on earth was he going to tell Regina the truth? How could he just bring that up in conversation?

For the moment, he settled for rejoining her in the kitchen. He watched silently from the doorway as Regina moved around the room, putting things in the oven, and mixing something in a big bowl. She finally looked up and noticed him. "You two have a good time up there?"

"We did," David said half-heartedly.

Regina stood up straight, noticing that something was off. "David? What is it?"

"I love you."

Her expression relaxed and she walked over to put her arms around him. "I love you, too."

David rested his head on top of hers. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the woman he'd come to love so much, but he knew that there was no other option. She had to know the truth.


End file.
